"But if brain beats brawn, why hasn't Luthor beaten Superman yet?"

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.

" @deadpool101: Batman is indeed smarter then Lex. Lex is cunning, he's really not all that intelligent. "

" @Gambler said:

" @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. "

" @AtPhantom said:

" @Gambler said:

" @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. "

" @Gambler said:

" @AtPhantom said:

" @Gambler said:

" @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? "

" @AtPhantom said:

"Batman made a time machine? "

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." "

" @Gambler said:

" @AtPhantom said:

"Batman made a time machine? "

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." "

Just for giggles.
 

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. "

" @AtPhantom said:

" @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 said:

" @AtPhantom said:

" @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. : ) "

" @AtPhantom said:

" @Gambler said:

" @AtPhantom said:

" @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.

Quite or Lex will give you cancer take it away and give it back to you just because he is that much of a a-hole

" 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 for giggles.
 "

" 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. "

" @Gambler said:

" 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. "

DC has many more people smarter than Lex
 
so does Marvel.

Sivana is smarter than Luthor in DC.

" DC has many more people smarter than Lex  so does Marvel. "

metron's smarter than him

victor von doom

The question

Dr Doom

Mr Fantastic and Doctor Doom.

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.

• All star Superman
• Red Son
• The death of Superman (the Silver age version)

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Ozymandias

well Ozymandias

No human in DC, maybe a few in Marvel like Reed Richards

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.