Scientists and Engineers in DC Comics

[CosmiComic]

Who are the top ones?

I'm wondering because Marvel has a lot of scientists, engineers and all-around geniuses, including Iron Man, Ant-Man (Pym), Mr. Fantastic, Beast, Spider-Man (Parker), etc. Whereas DC seems to focus less on that. If that's so, why do you think it is?

Off the top of my head, I can think of Batman, Flash (Allen), Atom (Palmer) and Cyborg.

I'm mainly talking about heroes, but this can apply to villains too

[ducklord]

It's a perennial topic around here. Limiting the discussion to human DC characters in the present day whose brainpower isn't artificially augmented, you've got a number to choose from:

Top Tier
Lex Luthor (always the smartest guy in the room... it's his whole thing)
Mr. Terrific
Dr. Sivana (working definition of mad scientist)

Next Group
(assorted polymaths and near-polymaths)
Batman
Shay Veritas
Ray Palmer
Prof Haley (and maybe June Robbins)
Niles Caulder
Steel
Veronica Cale

And the Rest
(guys who, on a given day, will do something insane with their brain)
Will Magnus
Rip Hunter
Prof. Ivo
TO Morrow

And plenty of others I'm no doubt forgetting.

[Captain Nostalgia]

Enlongated Man - Is a chemist (or was at one point) highly intelligent and naturally skilled in chemistry and deductive reasoning

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) - Owns his own tech company

Batgirl/Oracle (Barbra Gordon) - Library scientist, master computer hacker

Braniac 5 (Legion of Super Heroes) - Fast forward to the 31st century and you have a mega genius.

[ducklord]

Enlongated Man - Is a chemist (or was at one point) highly intelligent and naturally skilled in chemistry and deductive reasoning

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) - Owns his own tech company

Batgirl/Oracle (Barbra Gordon) - Library scientist, master computer hacker

Braniac 5 (Legion of Super Heroes) - Fast forward to the 31st century and you have a mega genius.

I'm am I HUGE Elongated Man fan, but I lump Ralph into the "Greatest Detectives" group (of which he should be in the Top 3), rather than the scientists. Aside from the Gingold thing, are there any big-time examples of his scientific prowess?

Ted? Definitely in the mix as a lesser Tony Stark.

Barbara? I think I'd put her on the list of "specialists" (along with Will Magnus or Rip Hunter). You want something done with computers? You call Barbara.

Brainiac 5? Well, once you open the door to aliens from the future, there's a whole host of characters you have to consider (Ron Vidar, Lyle Norg, Metron, Himon, Vril Dox, Krona, Pariah, Sardath...)

Oh did I mention Ted Knight? He really deserves a slot. Pulled power from the stars, man - that's impressive. His decision to run around in red long underwear afterwards - less so.

[CosmiComic]

I think we can include super intelligent characters like Brainiac

These responses are pretty good. Although I'm wondering if DC places less emphasis on scientific characters and power suits than Marvel, which has a lot of rivalries between the smartest heroes and villains

[Lonewolf36]

There is the Science Squad (Chang Tzu; Baron Bug; Doctor Cyclops; Doctor Death; Dr. Rigoro Mortis; Doctor Sivana; Doctor Tyme; I.Q.; Komrade Krabb; T.O. Morrow; Veronica Cale and Will Magnus) that was based on Oolong Island during the 52 series.

[ducklord]

I think we can include super intelligent characters like Brainiac

Oh, you definitely could, and there are plenty of them out there in the DCU, it's just that, after a while, it gets to be a very "apples and chainsaws" comparison. Metron's supposed to be some sort of hyper-advanced super-brain... is he even on the same playing field as Ted Kord? Brainiac, depending on which version is currently valid, is some sort of ever evolving AI robot thingie... do we need to drag in all the AIs and robots too?

That's why I usually keep the list limited to unaugmented humans. It keeps things the conversations sane.

As for the Marvel/DC split with regards to scientists, it *is* a little weird. For most of their history, DC's had prominent characters who were, if not full on scientists, were dedicated science hobbyists (Batman, Hourman, Starman, Sandman, Barry Allen, Ray Palmer, Rip Hunter, Prof Haley, Dane Dorrance, Cave Carson, Niles Caulder, and even, to a minor degree, Ralph Dibny). But then, somewhere around the late 60's, you started seeing less and less of that type of character. Martin Stein is relegated to a sidecar character in Firestorm. Black Lightning is a teacher, but he relies on Paul Gambi to make his lightning-regulating belt. Swamp Thing was a scientist, but he never does science things. Steel really stands out as an aberration, a return of the self-made scientist hero.

PS If you want to start a fun argument, pose this question: Which comic book incarnation of Brainiac 5 is the smartest? Original? SW6? Threeboot? Bendis?

[Digifiend]

Barry's not a hobbyist. He's a CSI. Crime Scene Investigators deal in forensic science, so he's using science in his civilian work.

[CosmiComic]

Oh, you definitely could, and there are plenty of them out there in the DCU, it's just that, after a while, it gets to be a very "apples and chainsaws" comparison. Metron's supposed to be some sort of hyper-advanced super-brain... is he even on the same playing field as Ted Kord? Brainiac, depending on which version is currently valid, is some sort of ever evolving AI robot thingie... do we need to drag in all the AIs and robots too?

That's why I usually keep the list limited to unaugmented humans. It keeps things the conversations sane.

As for the Marvel/DC split with regards to scientists, it *is* a little weird. For most of their history, DC's had prominent characters who were, if not full on scientists, were dedicated science hobbyists (Batman, Hourman, Starman, Sandman, Barry Allen, Ray Palmer, Rip Hunter, Prof Haley, Dane Dorrance, Cave Carson, Niles Caulder, and even, to a minor degree, Ralph Dibny). But then, somewhere around the late 60's, you started seeing less and less of that type of character. Martin Stein is relegated to a sidecar character in Firestorm. Black Lightning is a teacher, but he relies on Paul Gambi to make his lightning-regulating belt. Swamp Thing was a scientist, but he never does science things. Steel really stands out as an aberration, a return of the self-made scientist hero.

PS If you want to start a fun argument, pose this question: Which comic book incarnation of Brainiac 5 is the smartest? Original? SW6? Threeboot? Bendis?

Yeah, Marvel focuses a lot more on tech, scientists, robots and such.

I'm not sure who'd be the smartest Brainiac 5, tbh

[achilles]

Power Girl and Supergirl instantly understood one of Mr. Terrific's most complicated superscience machine blueprints, knew what it did, and built something that would have taken him days if not weeks in seconds. Even he was impressed.

[CosmiComic]

Power Girl and Supergirl instantly understood one of Mr. Terrific's most complicated superscience machine blueprints, knew what it did, and built something that would have taken him days if not weeks in seconds. Even he was impressed.

How high do they rank on intelligence scales? Because that's pretty good.

[Shockingjustice]

Everyone naming lots of scientist, but not a lot engineers I feel like.. I only know of John Stewart who's an architect and John Henry irons, but I dont know if they count. Does lucius Fox still make batmans equipment.

[CosmiComic]

Everyone naming lots of scientist, but not a lot engineers I feel like.. I only know of John Stewart who's an architect and John Henry irons, but I dont know if they count. Does lucius Fox still make batmans equipment.

Steel did make his own armor, right?

[achilles]

How high do they rank on intelligence scales? Because that's pretty good.

On human scales such as a typical IQ test....it's never mentioned, but they both seem to have had science guild training of some sort.

[achilles]

Steel did make his own armor, right?

I believe so.