so I hear different answers for this question, but who do you guys think is the smartest Dc character that’s not like a god as geoff johns said lex luthor and lex luthor’s great don’t get me wrong lol, but i think he’s overrated there’s nothing i feel like he’s really smart at except political espionage he’s not like a genius biologist, battle strategist etc. idk i feel like joker’s smarter lol he’s like a legit genius he beat the justice league after all, but batman is prob the smartest and i’m not just saying BECAUSE HES BATMAN, but like he’s knows chemistry, biology, has multiple college degrees and is a genius strategist, and he’s maybe not the smartest book smart wise, but i feel like he has the most varied knowledge idk tho what’s y’all thoughts?
Lex is canonically the smartest man in the dcu.
Bruce and Lex are the smartest people in the DCU. That’s my opinion but also canon, according to Geoff Johns.
I found a list once that list the smartest people in the DCU. I can’t remember the entire list, but according to it, cannonically Lex is the smartest human, Mr. Terrific is the 3rd and Batman is like the 10th.
Okay well hold up, I like Batman as much as the next guy but he’s clearly not the smartest. I don’t think Batman is the best at anything.
Ted Kord is a better technologist
Dinah Lance is a better fighter
Lex Luther is a better businessman
Oracle is a better strategist
Detective Chimp is a better detective
But Batman is all those things and he’s good at all those things, which makes him the most dangerous man in the world. Smartest? Not by a long shot. Three of the people I listed above are smarter than him.
Batman is great at a lot of things, give him time and I think he could solve any issue, but I don’t feel he is the smartest. I feel like the smartest, is too wide open anyway. If your talking brains, you have lex, the gardians, Mr. Terrific, Ted coard, etc. If you talking problem solving, Batman, etc. So it’s not as easy as saying who is the fastest. But this is awesome.
I think Ted Kord was in the top 5. Ray Palmer might have been 2nd
Brainiac 5
Carpenter.Redhook, good point, even though I feel like Detective Chimp isn’t better than batman lol. but, I see what ur saying, i think Batman has the most variety, but there are prob people smarter than him in terms of cognitive ability and brain speed, but he just think the best lol, hard to desribe, and btw, Braniac doesn’t count, as he’s an alien and literally just steals knowledge.
Lex Luthor is more than a clever businessman. Although his mad scientist roots were initially removed with the Byrnes rewrite, he was restored to his scientific glory in later years. ((Although, even the late 80s/early 90s reboot said that he secured his initial fortune by inventing a new airplane that was faster than any previous? So he’s always had engineering ability). Lex Luthor is a brilliant scientist. You can see evidence in this in ‘Up, up, and away,’ or in the initial issues of the New 52 reboot. Heck, in the ‘Salvation Run’ arc Lex Luthor managed to create an imitation boom tube with nothing more than twigs and rocks. Lex Luthor uses his science to build a powerful company, and so definitely has business acumen, but you cannot ignore the canon that points to his scientific ability. “What sort of scientist is he though?” you ask. That’s just it: in comic book land, there is little difference between a brilliant biologist or physicist. It has been mentioned, moreover, that Lex Luthor has also collected several college degrees.
The Joker is brilliant too, don’t get me wrong. But it is worth noting that sometimes he has been knocked down a peg on the scientific front. In ‘Legends of the Dark Knight’ it is mentioned that he did not even invent Joker gas: that was his cousin. I don’t personally view that detail as canon, but it is worth noting: if you can say Lex Luthor is nothing more than a clever businessman (and why this is viewed as somehow inferior to being a brilliant scientist is beyond me?) than I can say that the Joker is nothing more than someone who has very clever branches on his family tree. And in the aforementioned Salvation Run arc…Joker’s plan consists of stealing Luthor’s boom tube for his own ends. Joker’s brilliant too, but we don’t need to knock Lex down a peg just to compliment him.
In any case. Lex Luthor is a brilliant scientist and tactician, but he is oftentimes impeded by his hubris and somewhat irrational hatred for Superman. Bruce Wayne is probably the most versatile genius: not the ‘best’ at any one subject, except perhaps detective work, but having a more diverse set of skilled stats than others. Palmer, I haven’t read too much with him in it, but I’m sure he’s also brilliant. It gets to the point where it is just a matter of which writer is writing whom and which character you think is your favorite. I like Batman and Lex Luthor. You might like Joker or Palmer. When it comes down to who is ‘canonically the best’ we’re all going to be grasping at straws.
My vote is on Brainiac-5 too.