Lex Luthor is the smartest man in the entire DCU. People always say brain beats brawn. That's how Batman defeats super-powered enemies. But if brain beats brawn, why hasn't Luthor beaten Superman yet? And, my secondary question is who is smarter than Lex in DC or Marvel?
DC UNIVERSE Brainiac (original & 5) i would presume all brainiacs would be Superman (Debatable) Bruce Wayne (equal to- also debatable) Professor Ivo T.O. Marrow
MARVEL UNIVERSE Reed Richards Hank Pym Hank McCoy Evil Beast Amadus Cho Tony Stark (before Dark Reign and after Dismantled) Bruce Banner DR. Doom
1. because he needs Superman. he could pull it off, though Superman is one of the most resilient super-heros around, always achieving the impossible. but Luthor needs Superman to complete him. if Superman wasnt there, he wouldnt have his competition, so there would be nothing more to do. 2. way too many to list. doesnt denote Luthor either but theres alot of characters. when Marvel names off its " most intelligent " characters its not even coming close to the truth for example.
Um Batman is smart but not Luthor smart. Neither is Tony Stark. And in non-cannon things like the JLU show, Luthor has outsmarted Braniacs. I will give credit to the others though. But Luthor does seem a tad superior t them, they could prbaby give him a run for his money. And I totally understand the "you complete me" stuff. It's partly why i love the joker so much. but with luthor, it just seems like "without superman, i'd be king of the world. so he needs to die" sorta thing. maybe im wrong.
" @deadpool101: Batman is indeed smarter then Lex. Lex is cunning, he's really not all that intelligent. "
Not really intelligent? He worked out a cure for cancer in his sister's kitchen while dressed in his prison outfit. And then he worked out an antidote for his cure for cancer. He's a freaking intellectual beast when written right.
" @deadpool101: Batman is indeed smarter then Lex. Lex is cunning, he's really not all that intelligent. "
Not really intelligent? He worked out a cure for cancer in his sister's kitchen while dressed in his prison outfit. And then he worked out an antidote for his cure for cancer. He's a freaking intellectual beast when written right. "
Maybe I worded it incorrectly, but curing cancer, all be it impressive for us, isn't all that impressive when compared to say Batman creating a Time Machine.
" @deadpool101: Batman is indeed smarter then Lex. Lex is cunning, he's really not all that intelligent. "
Not really intelligent? He worked out a cure for cancer in his sister's kitchen while dressed in his prison outfit. And then he worked out an antidote for his cure for cancer. He's a freaking intellectual beast when written right. "
Maybe I worded it incorrectly, but curing cancer, all be it impressive for us, isn't all that impressive when compared to say Batman creating a Time Machine. "
" @deadpool101: Batman is indeed smarter then Lex. Lex is cunning, he's really not all that intelligent. "
Not really intelligent? He worked out a cure for cancer in his sister's kitchen while dressed in his prison outfit. And then he worked out an antidote for his cure for cancer. He's a freaking intellectual beast when written right. "
Maybe I worded it incorrectly, but curing cancer, all be it impressive for us, isn't all that impressive when compared to say Batman creating a Time Machine. "
Batman made a time machine? "
My bad it wasnt a time machine it was a teleporter.
My bad it wasnt a time machine it was a teleporter. "
Okay, but that's something that comes standard with the job. You can't be a proper super person without one. :P
My point was that Lex made a cure for cancer without resources. No labs, no high tech equipment, no millions of dollars to spend. Just the stuff you find in your kitchen (Plus superboy getting some ingredients). They just asked him "can you cure it?" and he said "Sure, just give me a minute."
" Okay, but that's something that comes standard with the job. You can't be a proper super person without one. :P My point was that Lex made a cure for cancer without resources. No labs, no high tech equipment, no millions of dollars to spend. Just the stuff you find in your kitchen (Plus superboy getting some ingredients). They just asked him "can you cure it?" and he said "Sure, just give me a minute." "
That is pretty impressive then. Out of curiosity what items did Superboy get?
My bad it wasnt a time machine it was a teleporter. "
Okay, but that's something that comes standard with the job. You can't be a proper super person without one. :P My point was that Lex made a cure for cancer without resources. No labs, no high tech equipment, no millions of dollars to spend. Just the stuff you find in your kitchen (Plus superboy getting some ingredients). They just asked him "can you cure it?" and he said "Sure, just give me a minute." "
it wasnt really cancer tho was it? i thought she was just paralyzed.
Also another one to add to the list would be Mr. Terrific
@Gambler: Not all were shown, but he did get a hair from a Bizarro (not THE Bizarro, but some guy from Bizarro world), a giant bone from Themyscira and some prehistoric herb.
Lex made the cure for cancer in like five minutes as well as a way to instantly give someone cancer he is way smarter than some of the listed on this page
" @Gambler: Not all were shown, but he did get a hair from a Bizarro (not THE Bizarro, but some guy from Bizarro world), a giant bone from Themyscira and some prehistoric herb. "
Thats pretty cool. But the nature and specific items listed, leads me to believe he had already discovered the cure before this instance. Know what I'm saying?
" @Gambler: Not all were shown, but he did get a hair from a Bizarro (not THE Bizarro, but some guy from Bizarro world), a giant bone from Themyscira and some prehistoric herb. "
Thats pretty cool. But the nature and specific items listed, leads me to believe he had already discovered the cure before this instance. Know what I'm saying? "
Yes, I can see that. However the comic itself doesn't give that impression. This isn't something I can really prove to you, though. It's just the general atmosphere of the comic indicates that Lex is making this up on the fly. : )
" @Gambler: Not all were shown, but he did get a hair from a Bizarro (not THE Bizarro, but some guy from Bizarro world), a giant bone from Themyscira and some prehistoric herb. "
Thats pretty cool. But the nature and specific items listed, leads me to believe he had already discovered the cure before this instance. Know what I'm saying? "
Yes, I can see that. However the comic itself doesn't give that impression. This isn't something I can really prove to you, though. It's just the general atmosphere of the comic indicates that Lex is making this up on the fly. : ) "
Yeah I'm just speculating myself. Do you happen to remember off hand which comic and issue number this happens in?
" @Gambler: Not all were shown, but he did get a hair from a Bizarro (not THE Bizarro, but some guy from Bizarro world), a giant bone from Themyscira and some prehistoric herb. "
Thats pretty cool. But the nature and specific items listed, leads me to believe he had already discovered the cure before this instance. Know what I'm saying? "
Yes, I can see that. However the comic itself doesn't give that impression. This isn't something I can really prove to you, though. It's just the general atmosphere of the comic indicates that Lex is making this up on the fly. : ) "
Yeah I'm just speculating myself. Do you happen to remember off hand which comic and issue number this happens in? "
Just to clarify, he doesn't cure cancer, but he does give her the ability to walk again (before taking it away). Its still impressive but he had more then just kitchen supplies and the items Superboy got him. He had a table full of notes and documents so I'm pretty sure its something he had been working on before this specific circumstance. But its still a badass feat.
" Just to clarify, he doesn't cure cancer, but he does give her the ability to walk again (before taking it away). Its still impressive but he had more then just kitchen supplies and the items Superboy got him. He had a table full of notes and documents so I'm pretty sure its something he had been working on before this specific circumstance. But its still a badass feat. "
That would be it. I thought it was cancer. My bad. But I do remember they said the papers on the table were his sister's medical files.
Okay anyone who thinks Lex is not as smart as Bats needs to read "Superman: Birthright". Lex Luthor is definitely the smartest man in the world. The original Mr. Terriffic was maybe as smart, but his inability to see that other people didn't believe in "fair play" as much as him makes him below Luthor's brainpower. Lex Luthor became president despite a horrible record of killing, and trying to take over the world. That takes some intelligece. Batman built a teleportr? That's stupid. He's good with gadgets but when he gets too sci-fi ish it's annoying. Anyways, Luthor built a freaking Braniac body suit. Luthor figured out how to neutralize Firestorm's powers (which was helped by Firestorm cuz Jason published scientific papers explaininghow his powers worked but...). Luthor is a genius. And in Marvel, Norman Osborn came up with a cure for cancer and turned it into a weapo against Deadpool. If Osborn can do it, so ca Lex. Not to mention, Luthor has made contact with alien life (even alien life that doesn't exist anymore through loopholes in time and space that he created). He has given people superpowers with his everyman project.
So I think Mr. Terrific and Batman ae not up to Lex-standards.
" Just to clarify, he doesn't cure cancer, but he does give her the ability to walk again (before taking it away). Its still impressive but he had more then just kitchen supplies and the items Superboy got him. He had a table full of notes and documents so I'm pretty sure its something he had been working on before this specific circumstance. But its still a badass feat. "
Wow just read that way to make me look like an @$$ Gam =P
" Just to clarify, he doesn't cure cancer, but he does give her the ability to walk again (before taking it away). Its still impressive but he had more then just kitchen supplies and the items Superboy got him. He had a table full of notes and documents so I'm pretty sure its something he had been working on before this specific circumstance. But its still a badass feat. "
That would be it. I thought it was cancer. My bad. But I do remember they said the papers on the table were his sister's medical files. "
thats true, they did say that he was looking at her files, i still felt (as i was reading the comic) that he had the solution prior to this event and just did not have the resources as well as didnt care to gather the resources.
DC Ray Palmer Ryan Choi Abra Kadabra TO Morrow Mr Terrific maybe Sivana maybe Dr Magnus I'd say that Gorilla Grodd and the Brainiacs are about equal to Lex Marvel Reed Richards Kang (all versions) Bruce Banner Dr Doom Henry Mccoy (both versions) Hank Pym Tony Stark Black Panther Amadeus Cho Apocalypse Prodigy Kid Omega
Oh and Lex built a teleporter too. Uses it in Teen Titans. Pops by to leave a get well card for Superboy only issues before the boy of steel dies. Here's a question: Who would win in a fight: Lex Luthor or Norman Osborn?
Luthor is the brightest human of the DCU but like Superman he is treated by mediocre writers most of the time and as a result he doesn't have the feats batman has or Mr.Fantastic.Superman isn't just brawn he actually is one of the smartest in the DCU so the brain vs brawn argument is too simple to explain the situation.
Just throwing in it out there most of the times Superman has died in comics Luthor was the cause.
to tell the god honest truth i know no other human in the DC universe that is smarter or as smart as lex. He is the only human i know that is labelled as a 12 level intellect
Lex is the smartest HUMAN in the Dc Universe bruce isnt even close. Lex became a god once and has immensive amount of tech at his disposal. Brainiac is the smartest being in the Dc universe and then comes others like Metron. I find it silly that someone mentions batman building a teleporter as if thats revolutionary. Im pretty sure every scientist in comics has built a teleporter of some sort in their time lol. But Lex is smarter no doubt
@trinidadsuperman: I read both volumes of Black Ring. Brainiac did most of the heavy lifting, then Lex got the epic win due to some ruthlessness and massive PIS on Brainiac's part. And if Superman:Brainiac is to be believed, he has yet to actually deal with the 12th level intellect on panel.
P.S. Lex is about as smart as Tony Stark or Bruce Banner, which is a decent but not large bit smarter than Bruce Wayne. As Tony and Banner have spammed time machine paradoxes, while Lex has shown no such initiative to possibly destroy his own universe... Wow Age of Ultron was stupid.
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