The Smartest Comic Book Superheroes Of All Time

Reed Richards was a genius long before he became a hero. During a mission into space, exposure to cosmic rays gave Richards the ability to expand his material body, but still, his expansive mind remains the most fantastic thing about him. 

Richards attended college at the young age of 14, earning four degrees by his 18th birthday. As one of the world's premier minds, he was recruited for the Illuminati, a collection of the world's greatest and most powerful heroes. As an Illuminati member, his greatest invention was the Antimatter Injection System, a detonation device the Illuminati could use to destroy incoming Earths during a multi-dimensional incursion. The Illuminati wasn't the only group of intelligent individuals Reed worked with. He also built an inter-dimensional portal known as the Bridge that allowed him to contact the Council of Reeds. This council was a group of Reed Richards that had met up and begun to take over all of reality. 

After Secret Wars, Reed used his vast intelligence to help Molecule Man and Franklin Richards recreate the entire universe. As far as achievements go, rebuilding the universe isn't too shabby. 

Tony Stark, adopted son of billionaire industrialist Howard Stark, was a genius at a young age and attended MIT at only 15 years old. After being taken by terrorists, Tony used his mental prowess to develop the first version of the Iron Man armor. 

Tony Stark is an incredible mechanical engineer. He's Marvel's answer to Batman in the sense that he's a brilliant tactician and strategist, once taking on Mister Fantastic in five simultaneous games of chess and winning. Alongside mechanical engineering, he's an incredible software engineer, as he has developed multiple incredibly advanced artificial intelligences.

What was possibly Tony Stark's most impressive achievement came after he magically lost all his morals (read Axis for more info on that). He created an app called Extremis 3.0, which could turn anyone into a perfect physical specimen, curing all of their ailments. The "lack of morals" part? He initially gave it out for free, got people hooked, and then charged $99.99 a day for continued usage. Pretty clever! 

The name "Brainiac" may not conjure images of heroism, but his distant relative in the future, Queri Dox, was a longstanding member of the Legion of Superheroes. Dox took on Brainiac's name in an attempt to atone for the original Brainiac's sins, and so far, it's definitely been working. 

While most heroes are considered geniuses among humans, Brainiac 5 is considered to be a genius even amongst his race of android geniuses. He is a 12th-level intellect. All of Earth, even in the 31st century, is only a ninth-level intellect, and other members of his race are typically only 10th-level intellects.

As a member of the Legion, Brainiac 5 puts his brains to good use. For starters, he's the inventor of the famed Legion Flight Ring, a small ring that, as its name implies, grants its wearer the ability to fly. 

Bruce Banner has a doctorate in nuclear physics from Caltech and is the world's foremost expert on gamma radiation. Banner worked for the military, where he created the world's first gamma bomb, which eventually turned him into his monstrous alter ego, the incredible Hulk. 

Norman Osborn considered Banner to be the fourth smartest person in the world (although he didn't specify who took the other spots on that list). Typically, Banner doesn't get a ton of time to prove his intelligence, as he's constantly trying to hide far enough away from mankind that Hulk can't do any damage. However, in one storyline, Banner finally found time to clean up his act and acquire scientific funding from S.H.I.E.L.D. With the proper space to finally flex his scientific muscles, his inventions shocked even the likes of Tony Stark - the most impressive of which was his Catalytic Converter, a device that could nullify carcinogens in practically anything (effectively curing cancer). 

Bruce Wayne was born into one of the wealthiest families in the world. What should have been a happy life was turned into a tragedy after he was forced to bear witness to the demise of his parents. From there, he dedicated his life to honing his mind and body into becoming the best crimefighter known to man, eventually earning the title of the world's greatest detective. 

In the DC Universe, the two smartest men are unanimously considered to be Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne. Bruce has earned this title through his constant inventions, cases that he's solved, and strategies he's planned. One of the best (and most famous) of these fabled strategies was his contingency plan to take out the other Justice League members. In the storyline Tower of Babel, it's revealed that even though Batman is the only member of the JLA without any powers, he could take out any of the other members thanks to extensive amounts of planning and strategy. This isn't something Luthor has been able to do, so it seems fairly clear how those top two spots are filled out. 

Thanks to his father's radiation exposure, Henry McCoy is a rare mutant who has shown signs of his mutation from birth. Henry is both brawn and brains, and he grew up with a super-human intellect to match his animal-like strength, reflexes, and agility. McCoy was one of Xavier's first recruits into the X-Men. 

McCoy has six degrees and is considered to be one of the eight smartest people in the world. His achievements in science range across all subjects, including curing the Legacy virus, creating a more advanced version of Cerebro dubbed Cerebra, and building a time travel machine.