Originally Posted by
achilles
No, Luthor's biggest competition is the as yet unnamed character, poised to make his or her appearance whenever it becomes convenient for the plot. Anyhow, he's at his best when he has to struggle to outsmart his opponents. Even Sherlock Holmes wasn't claimed to be the smartest or best; Conan Doyle knew better than to do that. And he was outsmarted himself from time to time. So too should Mr. Terrific; they shouldn't ruin him by making him OPed in that respect. Some characters are walking (or flying) squash matches, but others like Mr. Terrific are the kind who gets the readers on their side by NOT being perfect at their best thing.
Also, do you really want that? Look at how being the "smartest" in a comic book world means. It means you'd be saving the day by reconfiguring the matrix positron inverter warp drive shields. Every time. Would you actually "act" smart? No, but you would pull technobabble out of thin air to amaze and confound you enemies and insult the reader's intelligence. And you'd build a maguffin to find the other maguffin the plot inevitably involves. And everyone would act amazed.
As I said, I prefer it where he struggles against another smart opponent before finally outsmarting him, or even simply outfighting him. No technobabble need apply, but that sort of thing is much harder to write than simply having him pull a gadget out of thin air, (hi Batman!).
Also, I'll note that in this case, smartest seems to mean smartest HUMAN, as Mr. T himself marveled at the two Kryptonian ladies' ability to hurl technobabble and build his maguffin faster than he ever could in one of those minor League stories.
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