Was Ted Kord the smartest superhero in the DC Universe? Could he keep up with Reed Richards?

Ted should probably have been a Reed Richards type, but he was underrated most of the time. I think in the DCU the top science types are/were Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, Ted Knight, and Will Magnus.

In the DC Universe, Batman is always the smartest. Sad sometimes, but true.

I think they say that Michael Holt - Mr. Terrific - is the world's third smartest man. The first two are probably evil geniuses like Luthor or T.O. Morrow...

I don't think he was quite as brilliant and innovative as Reed is, but he was definitely one of the very few residents of the DCU that could have a technical conversation with Reed and understand him.

That's probably about right.

Ted Kord was certainly the smartest guy in the Charlton universe -- but his DC doppleganger didn't get much opportunity to demonstrate his intelligence, unfortunately. I don't think either version was on the Reed Richards level, but the Charlton guy was definitely at Tony Stark level.

In the animated series, Batman referred to three people who were intelligent enough to override the League's security systems and fire their weapon. One was Luthor, the other two were on the Satellite when it fired. I assumed that Mr. Terrific was one of the other two, Ray Palmer possibly being the second?

Blue Beetle was not a part of that universe though.

In the DCU Mr. Terrific is considered one of the smartest, and yet he was honored to find out that Batman had been stealing his tech.

If he was so smart, why did he have to specify that he was the blue beetle?

Were there a lot of other beetle characters running around the DCU?

Did he need to differentiate himself from the Magenta Beetle? The Mauve Beetle? The Beige Beetle?

I would consider Ted Kord up with Iron Man, actually. More of a tech genius than an overall genius.

Dan Garrett came up with the name and Kord kept it when he took on the mantle.

And he came up with the name in the Golden Age, when there were probably half a dozen different-colored Beetles running around, all now long since forgotten and waiting in the public domain for someone to revive them in a grim-n-gritty 12-parter.

He needs to be drawn smoking a cigar and beating up jewel thieves in a back alley somewhere.

Yeah I would put him as the DC universe's Tony Stark. One problem with the current DCU (and Marvel to a lesser extent), is the tech level has gone up way too high as to become unbelievable. Like I've mentioned in the past, Batman should not be able to fix a teleporter or work with Boom technology. Another example of the lack of mature editorial control.

Now speaking of Blue Beetle, I just bought the first two trades of Booster Gold and it just reminds me how much I miss Blue Beetle and what a GREAT character he is/was. From the moment I saw him in Crisis and that terrific Secret origins story on him, thorough his own series and guest appearances on Birds of Prey, he has remained one of my all time favorites. I love the Bug, the costume with the steel mesh, the believable gun and his whole personality. And I like his relationship with the rest of the DCU, especially Batman (would have liked to see more of it in Kingdom Come).

I also totally dug the mutual attraction with Barbara Gordon and think in many ways, he is a much better match for her than Dick Grayson.

Finally, I was never a fan of Jurgens before (I didn't care for his Superman and felt his battle scenes hurt the Death of storyline immensely) however on BG he rocks!!!! And I would love to see him do a Blue Beetle comic.

FYI, BG was one of those books where if i didn't get a chance to read it to for free, I would never have bought the trades.

The Periwinkle Beetle.

I see Blue Beetle being about as inventive and tech savvy as an adult Peter Parker should be*... which makes sense, since they were both created by the same bloke.





*"Should be" is based upon the idea that a sixteen year old kid designs a pair of relatively high-tech web-shooters, but then doesn't invent anything else since then... which I believe has been how Marvel has handled the idea of Spidey's inventiveness since the Ditko-era. Stuff like the Spider-Mobile has been stricken from continuity, right?

Agreed. I like the idea of Batman being a deductive genius and a MacGuyver type who can improvise-- but he's a specialist in every single thing out there and to me, it's just not interesting.

So who are the "Big Brains"* of the DCU?
Luthor
T.O. Morrow
Brainiac 5
Lyle Norg/Invisible Kid
Ray Palmer
Ted Kord
Michael Holt
Terry Sloane
Ted Knight
Will Magnus
Batman (?)
The Chief/Niles Caulder (?)
Barry Allen (?)
Rip Hunter (?)
Would some of these be "niche" brainiacs, or would they fit in the all-purpose smart guy category?



Inb4 Hector Hammond joke.

What about that Mr. Terrific guy? I actually think he's pretty cool.

Edited to add: Oh wait... you got him. I was looking for someone with the last name "Terrific."

Mr. Terrific has always reminded me of James C. Taylor.

We should get James one of those stylish jackets. I doubt he would let us tattoo a large T on his face.

Awesome.