Who are the DCU's greatest nerds?

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With the granddaddy of all DCU nerds, mild mannered reporter Clark Kent, being phased out with upcoming events, I think it's a good time to show our love and appreciation for the many nerds that the DCU has.

Barry Allen is a giant nerd. His enthusiasm for science factoids in the face of the latest death trap his assortment of rogues had concocted always brought a smile to my face.

Ted Kord is another great DCU nerd, whose struggles with his weight and feelings of inferiority always kept him one of DC’s most relatable characters.

Doc Magnus literally created his own sex robot. That's some next level nerd moves right there.

Batman. Yep. I can't believe I didn't see it until Bendis had Ollie start teasing him in Event Leviathan, but Batman is a giant nerd who surrounds himself with toys and kids much younger than him who wouldn't realize how uncool he is

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The first name that came to mind when I heard the word nerd is Tim

[Buried Alien]

Do TV versions count? If so, we must throw in a nomination for Cisco Ramon...VIBE.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Osiris-Rex]

If we get to use TV versions I'm going with Felicity Smoak. I guess she was sort of a nerd in the comic books too, so she should count.

[manwhohaseverything]

Jon kent likes anime and manga. Does that make him a nerd?

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Jon kent likes anime and manga. Does that make him a nerd?

Depends on how much he talks about it :3

[Digifiend]

Barbara Gordon, she was the best computer coder in her high school, and computer science is something that's only recently been routinely taught, so I would imagine the subject wasn't mandatory.

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Barbara Gordon, she was the best computer coder in her high school, and computer science is something that's only recently been routinely taught, so I would imagine the subject wasn't mandatory.

Absolutely. Babs is the Reigning Queen of DCU Nerds. I mean, she was a librarian back in the day. That's double nerd points right there.

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Jon kent likes anime and manga. Does that make him a nerd?

The Nerd runs strong in his family--well, in his dad. Lois isn't a nerd, but one of her formative character arcs was coming to terms with the fact that she was more in love with the nerd than the hunk, or rather that the hunk was the nerd all along.

While I don't think the comics or TV shows necessarily support this notion, in my mind at least, the main distinction between Lois Lane and Iris West is that Iris is a huge journalism nerd, whereas Lois is not, she's just the most tenacious woman in world when it comes to truth, which has made her the greatest journalist alive.

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Do TV versions count? If so, we must throw in a nomination for Cisco Ramon...VIBE.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Given that Cisco is the most well-known and popular version of Vibe, it's a foregone conclusion that if he ever gets reintroduced into the comics again he'll be the nerdy delight he is on the CW.

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The first name that came to mind when I heard the word nerd is Tim

Yeah, Tim Drake is a big ol' computer nerd, in addition to being a Batman nerd. Good call.

[Tzigone]

Characters are characterized different ways at different times, so it can be difficult. Almost none are stereotypical nerds. Tim Drake and his friends definitely had some geek habits/interests. But Tim was also doing martial arts early, had no trouble getting girls interested in him, and liked car shows. Barry liked his comic books and took a date a scientific lecture when she'd rather go dancing, but was also good with people (and had no problems getting a date), and generally fairly popular.

Barbara definitely had significant nerd/wallflower in her when introduced, but it was washed away as the character evened out in the 1970s, IMO (she went through a couple extremes first). Then there were some changes again in the 90s.

I see nothing nerd in Jon. His anime and manga fanship seems very mainstream and he's a very typical kid. Similarly, I see nothing at all nerdish about silver age Iris (don't watch show, so can't comment there).

Ted, while a genius, was smooth and debonair and great with women and brilliant with business and "cool" in his own series in the 1980s. He changed a lot later.

I guess for me, it comes down to the in what the words mean - since it's one of those that means different things to different people. For me, a nerd lacks social skills or people don't want to hang out with them and they are either studious or interested in a topic one would associate with geeks or at least consider fairly niche (scifi, comic books, etc. instead of obsessively talking about football or popular bands). Double points for the very-out-of-fashion-clothing that shows up on tv or in movies. A nerd does not actually need to be intelligent, even. Just a particular flavor of company people don't want to hang out with.

TV Felicity Smoak would have qualified for all her tripping over her own tongue and saying awkward things back in season 1 (haven't watched since then, so don't know how she's changed.)

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Characters are characterized different ways at different times, so it can be difficult. Almost none are stereotypical nerds. Tim Drake and his friends definitely had some geek habits/interests. But Tim was also doing martial arts early, had no trouble getting girls interested in him, and liked car shows. Barry liked his comic books and took a date a scientific lecture when she'd rather go dancing, but was also good with people (and had no problems getting a date), and generally fairly popular.

Barbara definitely had significant nerd/wallflower in her when introduced, but it was washed away as the character evened out in the 1970s, IMO (she went through a couple extremes first). Then there were some changes again in the 90s.

I see nothing nerd in Jon. His anime and manga fanship seems very mainstream and he's a very typical kid. Similarly, I see nothing at all nerdish about silver age Iris (don't watch show, so can't comment there).

Ted, while a genius, was smooth and debonair and great with women and brilliant with business and "cool" in his own series in the 1980s. He changed a lot later.

I guess for me, it comes down to the in what the words mean - since it's one of those that means different things to different people. For me, a nerd lacks social skills or people don't want to hang out with them and they are either studious or interested in a topic one would associate with geeks or at least consider fairly niche (scifi, comic books, etc. instead of obsessively talking about football or popular bands). Double points for the very-out-of-fashion-clothing that shows up on tv or in movies. A nerd does not actually need to be intelligent, even. Just a particular flavor of company people don't want to hang out with.

TV Felicity Smoak would have qualified for all her tripping over her own tongue and saying awkward things back in season 1 (haven't watched since then, so don't know how she's changed.)

I think you are defining nerd by some outdated standards. Being popular with the opposite sex hasn't been a disqualifier for nerdom in at least a decade.

I know plenty of nerds with black belts who could kick most people's asses. They're still nerds though and they rightly identify as one too

[Tzigone]

I think you are defining nerd by some outdated standards. Being popular with the opposite sex hasn't been a disqualifier for nerdom in at least a decade.

I know plenty of nerds with black belts who could kick most people's asses. They're still nerds though and they rightly identify as one too

I think that comes down to the distinction between nerd and geek to me. Also, I looked it up - first dictionary definition on google had lack of social skills referenced and so did second source I saw. To me, geeks are smart and interested in geeky things, but don't have the social connotation that nerds do. But like I said, different people use the words different ways.

Edited a bunch of times because I made too many typos and accepted spelling corrections without double-checking them.

[lemonpeace]

Duke Thomas is a big movie nerd and was an avid tabletop RPG player when he was first introduced; he's also a secret poet which is pretty nerdy.