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Marvel’s 10 Most Dangerous Super Geniuses (But Where Does Tony Stark Land?)
Marvel Comics has more super geniuses than it does anything. From Reed Richards and Tony Stark to villains like The Leader and more, the intelligence of the heroes and villains of Marvel is more than impressive. However, with great intelligence comes great threat levels. When a person is more intelligent than anyone on Earth, they often develop an arrogance, believing they can accomplish anything without answering to anyone, as their brains lead them to believe they know best. This has been shown in heroes and villains, and many genius-level heroes are often one decision away from turning completely evil and becoming a worldwide threat.
From Reed Richards, who has turned evil in more than one timeline, to names like Tony Stark and Norman Osborn, here is a look at Marvel Comics heroes and villains who are smart enough to become a threat to the world.
10) Norman Osborn
Norman Osborn is one of Spider-Man’s longtime villains, and he is one of Marvel Comics’ most intelligent characters. He is considered to have a “gifted intelligence,” and he proved this with inventions, including the Goblin Formula he created. The serum also had the side effect of increasing his intelligence, making him a master in genetics, robotics, engineering, and chemistry. However, Osborn was also mentally unstable and used his intelligence for evil. He found a cure for cancer, but chose to use it as a weapon against Deadpool instead.
9) Mr. Sinister
Mr. Sinister is one of the most intelligent mutant villains in history. He wasn’t even a mutant, but used his scientific knowledge to turn himself into one, and has since created clones of himself. Mister Sinister wasn’t even content to live a peaceful life on Krakoa. Instead, he actively worked against the peaceful mutant society with his cloning mastery and evil intentions. He used his scientific knowledge to destroy the lives of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, and he is responsible for Cable’s birth by creating a clone of Jean named Madelne Pryor. Sinister is a genius in various scientific fields, and he has always used his brain to try to conquer the world or just annoy the Summers family.
8) The High Evolutionary
Herbert Wyndham is the High Evolutionary, and he is a super-genius in the fields of genetics and engineering. He is also a brilliant theoretician. While High Evolutionary could use his intelligence for the betterment of humankind, he instead uses it for his own purposes, which is to use genetics and bioengineering to increase the intelligence of other beings, including creating animal-people as well as the New Men. Using his intelligence, High Evolutionary initiated the Evolutionary War, aiming to advance evolution to a point where he could rival the Beyonders, despite humankind’s will. His goals have always been high enough to make him a threat to all existence.
7) Bruce Banner
The Hulk is the most dangerous superhero in the world, and he has almost destroyed it on more than one occasion. However, while Hulk is a world beater, Bruce Banner is also just as dangerous. Hulk is a danger to the world because of Bruce Banner’s genius, since he has turned himself back into a gamma monster more than once after finally finding peace. Banner has also proven himself to be arrogant and has done enough to threaten the world as a scientist. He is a genius in nuclear physics, and Tony Stark has said there is not a nuclear scientist in the world who can match him. MODOK even stated that Banner is the greatest threat to the world among the eight smartest men on Earth.
6) Hank Pym
Hank Pym has proven more than once why his gifted intelligence is a threat to the world. Pym is one of the world’s most brilliant biochemists and is also a master at physics, cybernetics, robotics, AI, programming, and more. However, these skills allowed Pym to create something that has threatened the world more than once. He created Ultron, a robot that has led to more death and destruction than almost any other superhero’s actions in Marvel Comics, as exemplified by Age of Ultron. It also doesn’t help that Pym has suffered mental breakdowns, including when he ended up court martialed by the Avengers.
5) Hank McCoy
Hank McCoy is one of the smartest mutants in the world. He ranks among the top eight most intelligent people in the world and holds six PhDs, including one in biophysics. For years, Beast was the jovial member of the X-Men and Avengers, but there was a clear look at what could happen if he went dark. Dark Beast from the Age of Apocalypse timeline had no Professor X to guide him and ended up with scientific inventions that helped devastate the world. The Beast on Earth-616 ended up going dark as well. He brought the young X-Men to the present day, only to strand them there. This prompted an intervention from the X-Men, who accused him of acting without morality in his scientific explorations. Finally, in Krakoa, he went fully dark, and even Wolverine believed Beast needed to die to stop him before he destroyed the world.
4) The Leader
Samuel Sterns was infected with gamma radiation, and unlike Hulk, his strength was added to his mind rather than adding muscles to his body. The Leader was a genius in genetics, robotics, and physics. Using his genius intellect, he was able to create just about anything in the world to help him in his villainous actions. Thanks to the gamma radiation, there was no limit to his intelligence, similar to how there was no limit to Hulk’s strength. He could master every area of study in a remarkably short time and could even accurately predict the outcome of almost any event before it happened. He also had an eidetic memory and could remember everything he had ever seen in his life. While Leader is currently de-powered, that never lasts in Marvel Comics, and when he gets his powers back, he once again becomes a world threat.
3) Tony Stark
Tony Stark is another super-genius superhero, and another one who is arrogant enough to believe his views are the only ones that matter. His education was in mechanical engineering, and he has created all his Iron Man suits of armor, advancing them as needed for protection or offensive weapons based on any situation. Stark is also a futurist, which is what makes him dangerous for the world, as he predicts the future based on trends and then uses his intelligence and wealth to try to fix things before they happen, often making things worse in the long run. Stark’s arrogance and high intelligence made him one of Marvel Comics’ most hated superheroes for years before the MCU rehabilitated him. However, in the comics, he makes as many bad decisions as good ones.
2) Victor Von Doom
Victor Von Doom is one of the most intelligent people alive, and if anyone asks him, he will call himself the smartest. What makes Doom scary is that he mixes his scientific intelligence with magic to make him a very dangerous villain. He has done many good things, but for bad reasons. When Reed Richards couldn’t cure Ben Grimm from being The Thing, Doctor Doom succeeded in doing so. He has created time-travel devices, Doombots that often imitate him, and more. Most recently in Marvel Comics, Doom has taken over the world to become its ruler, and using his intelligence and scientific knowledge, he was able to capture the world’s attention, even with the superhero community knowing better. In both Secret Wars and One World Over Doom, he has changed the world, showing the extent of his threat level.
1) Reed Richards
Reed Richards might be the greatest threat to Earth. Reed is one of the most intelligent characters in all of Marvel Comics, a master of electrical, aerospace, and mechanical engineering, chemistry, electronics, physics, and biology (human and alien). He is also a theoretician who has attempted to create solutions to prevent future disasters, albeit without moral considerations or oversight. Look at the Ultimate Universe to see where an unhinged Reed Richards could help destroy, or even recreate an entire world, making him a dangerous threat. The Council of Reeds also shows Reed’s danger level, as each of these variants has lost their family and friends in the name of controlling the entire multiverse, whether the multiverse wants them to or not.
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