7 Characters Smarter Than Reed Richards

Reed Richards is the hero known as Mister Fantastic, and he’s about to have a banner year. The Fantastic Four have been going through something of a renaissance in the comics recently, and Fantastic Four: First Steps is about to reintroduce the Fantastic Four to more casual fans. Reed Richards’s origin has changed over the years — he was originally a veteran of the Korean War — but one thing that hasn’t changed is his intelligence. Reed Richards is widely considered one of the smartest heroes in the Marvel Universe, having created technology unlike anything the world had ever seen. Reed’s work made the Earth a much better place in a lot of ways, and he’s responsible for feats of genius that redefined what a scientist superhero can be.

Comics have introduced readers to many smart characters, and most of them wish they were as smart as Reed Richards. However, there are plenty of characters out there, in Marvel and DC, that are smarter than Reed Richards. While there are some rather obvious choices for this — for example, nearly any cosmic being could be considered smarter than Reed — there are also a lot of other heroes and villains who are smarter than Reed Richards. These seven are all smarter in some way than Reed Richards, using their intellect to save or doom the world.

7) Moon Girl

So, this one is a newer one, but Moon Girl is canonically smarter than Reed Richards. The young Inhuman has the highest IQ of anyone on Earth, and while she doesn’t have the same level of feats as Reed, she’s definitely smarter. Moon Girl’s intelligence is more of potential than anything else. She can basically solve any problem put in front of her, which helped make her one of the most important members of the Inhuman race during their last boom period. A lot of fans got every mad about Moon Girl being canonically smarter than Reed Richards, for a variety of reasons (many of which are more about ideology than any problems with the story), but this is how comics work. Moon Girl is a character who was introduced to be more powerful than another character we all know so that we understand exactly what her potential is. Moon Girl is just waiting for the right creators to show off everything that she could do.

6) Metron

So, this one is technically cheating, since Metron is a New God, but it still counts. The war between New Genesis and Apokolips has been going on for ages, and there’s only one New God who is basically neutral in the whole affair. That’s Metron. Metron wants to unravel the secrets of the universe and the Source, which has meant that he’s constantly been on the move. He’s seen sights that most people have never even imagined, and has an understanding of the phenomena of the universe that Reed Richards wishes he could have. He’s traveled the universe in his Moebius Chair, recording everything he’s seen in its database. He’s helped both heroes and villains over the years, his pursuit of knowledge being the only thing that mattered to him. He’s known for giving people some secret knowledge that they’ll need at some point in the future, and will intercede if the universe is in jeopardy — after all, if everything dies before he’s learned everything, he’s failed. However, otherwise, Metron doesn’t really care what happens, because even in the worst case scenario, he’ll get to witness something that he wouldn’t have otherwise ever seen.

5) Brainac 5

The legacy of the name Brainiac is actually pretty horrific in the history of the DC Multiverse, but it did lead somewhere good. Brainiac was a cyborg from Colu, a planet known for its geniuses, and eventually, his lineage led to the most intelligent being to ever exist in the DC Multiverse — the brains of the Legion of Superheroes known as Brainiac 5. Brainiac 5 created the Legion’s flight rings, amazing pieces of technology that allow their wearer to fly, communicate with Legion headquarters and any member of the the team, tap into their database, and work as beacons across time and space. He created the Legion’s time travel technology, allowing them to go back in time and meet Superboy. Brainac 5 created the Miracle Machine, which could do anything the user wanted it to. Brainiac 5 is considered to be a twelfth level intellect, which is the highest the scale goes, and he’s proven it time and time again. While Brainiac 5 is from over a thousand years in the future and from a race more intelligent than humanity, even if you started Brainiac 5 at the same place as Reed, he’d still be more intelligent.

RELATED: 7 MCU Heroes That Have Actually Been on the Fantastic Four

4) Brainiac

Brainiac is one of the most intelligent beings to exist in the modern day of the DC Multiverse, in basically any universe he exists in. Brainiac was able to create shrinking technology that allowed him to steal entire cities, which is pretty insane frankly. He created a massive ship, armed it to the teeth, and began traveling the cosmos in order to add to his collection of cities. Brainiac’s entire life is defined by his quest for knowledge. One of the reasons he steals entire cities is so that he can take all of their knowledge and technology, allowing him to master everything they have. Brainiac’s ship is a treasure trove of the greatest technology, and he understands every single piece of it. Brainiac’s intelligence level is hard to parse exactly. He comes from an advanced civilization, so he’s certainly smarter than most humans could imagine being, but Lex Luthor has been able to outsmart him many times over the years. However, Brainac has also performed some feats of intellect that are unlike anything that Lex could ever understand. With Marvel and DC promising to have more crossovers in the near term, it would be awesome to see Reed Richards and Brainiac face off in a battle of wits. Brainiac’s mastery of science is light years more advanced than Reed Richards, and it would be entertaining to see Reed try to deal with that.

3) Thanos

Infinity Gauntlet is Thanos’s most defining story, and it’s given some readers the wrong impression about Thanos. Thanos is a supremely powerful being on a physical level, even able to stand up against gods and cosmic beings even without something like the Infinity Gauntlet or the Cosmic Cube. He’s a cauldron of cosmic energy and can fistfight Thor to a standstill when he needs to. However, Thanos is also extremely intelligent, and is almost definitely smarter than Reed Richards in a variety of ways. To begin with, Thanos was raised as a genius in a society that is much, much more advanced than humanity; the science he was learning was far beyond anything Reed learned in his schooling. Thanos is a master of technology of all kinds, and can create probes and sensor systems that can detect just about anything. His main mode of transportation for years was a flying chair set-up similar to the Moebius Chair (while Thanos gets compared to Darkseid the most, he was actually more inspired by Metron at first) that he build himself, and it could protect him from nearly any calamity. On top of that, Thanos has been given access to the Infinity Well in Mistress Death’s realm, which allowed him to witness events that no one else ever has before, which is how he learned about the Infinity Gems (they were first called Gems, not Stones, and I will die on that hill). Thanos is also an extremely crafty warrior, showing a degree of cunning that Reed Richards just doesn’t often have.

2) Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is often talked about as the smartest villain in the DC Multiverse, and is considered one of the smartest humans on Earth. He’s usually considered either the smartest person on Earth, or somehow second to Batman. I’d certainly say that Lex Luthor is smarter than Reed Richards, and it’s actually kind of obvious. Lex Luthor may have never created a portal to other dimensions (although he did eventually create multiversal travel technology), but he’s created weaponry that could actually hurt Superman, including armor powerful enough to survive the Kryptonian hero’s strongest blows. That’s extremely impressive, but it’s also only the beginning. Lex Luthor has invented all kinds of technology, becoming a billionaire in the meantime. While science is definitely his passion, Lex is more than just book smart. He’s run a business empire for much of his adult life, destroying anyone who has challenged through a combination of smarts and brutality. Lex is much more cunning than Reed Richards could ever hope to be, using his intellect to forge his own place in the world. Lex Luthor has gone very far in the DC Multiverse, and it’s all because of his boundless intellect.

1) Doctor Doom

This one is definitely going to be somewhat controversial, because Marvel has gone out of its way to show that Reed Richards is smarter than Doctor Doom. However, I feel like that’s kind of a hard thing to prove. Look at Doctor Doom’s first appearance — he attacked the Fantastic Four with a time machine, which isn’t anything that Reed Richards had access to at the time. Doom has created technology that makes his armor the most advanced armor on Earth, allowing him to drain the power of cosmic beings like Watchers and Beyonders. He’s been able to create the same kind of dimensional portals that Reed has. Unlike Reed, Doom has learned the secrets of magic, opening up a field of study that Reed has never really looked into. He’s also a master of international relations, and knows the laws of various countries across the worlds. In a lot of ways, Reed Richards is definitely smarter than Doctor Doom; he’s created some better technology and is a better person. However, in a lot of ways, Doom is smarter than Reed as well. Doctor Doom is the best, and his intellect is just one place where he excels.

Who do you think is smarter than Reed Richards? Sound off in the comments below.