Montclare & Reeder Explain How "Moon Girl" Became The Smartest Person in the Marvel U

[ed2962]

But how does Moon Girl being the smartest person in the MU undermine other characters? When Stan created the Hulk and they decided he was the strongest it didn't undermine the Thing. When they decided that Wolverine would be "the best there is at what he does" did that undermine hand to hand combatants like Capt America or Shang Chi?

[lalalei2001]

I had a thought-what if we see or hear mention of Lunella in the movies and shows? Not too many new characters get to do that except ones that were created for them.

[ZuLuLu]

I just don't understand how Lunella being the smartest person in the Marvel universe undermine any character, it does not take away form any of their achievements.

This is such a whimsical comic book thing, when did comic book fans start being so humourless and cynical that we cannot laugh off and enjoy the outlandish idea that a 9 year old that with a pet red dinosaur with whom she also have the ability to mind-swap just happen to be the smartest person in the universe.

[Kurolegacy]

But how does Moon Girl being the smartest person in the MU undermine other characters? When Stan created the Hulk and they decided he was the strongest it didn't undermine the Thing. When they decided that Wolverine would be "the best there is at what he does" did that undermine hand to hand combatants like Capt America or Shang Chi?

I just don't understand how Lunella being the smartest person in the Marvel universe undermine any character, it does not take away form any of their achievements.

This is such a whimsical comic book thing, when did comic book fans start being so humourless and cynical that we cannot laugh off and enjoy the outlandish idea that a 9 year old that with a pet red dinosaur that she have the ability to mind-swap with just happen to be the smartest person in the universe.

It undermines these characters and becomes less believable because, unlike her, all of these other characters actually earned their places amongst their peers. They weren't around for the comic book equivalent of 5 seconds and declared to be the best of the best. Hell when characters like Amadeus Cho were created, while he was said to be one of the smartest, he certainly was placed as the smartest, he was placed at #7 and even that's been joked at since then. Things like Hulk is the strongest there is and Wolverine is the best there is at what he does are more so hyperbole than actual fact whereas here they're literally trying to prove she is in fact the smartest.

Don't know why her being essentially a prodigy isn't enough and she has to be seen as the best of the best but as I've said earlier in the thread, things like this cause titles like smartest person to lose all meaning considering that they can just throw out some random nobody and just declare them to be the best without really any of the trials that any others had to go through to prove why they're considered for their places.

[lalalei2001]

It undermines these characters and becomes less believable because, unlike her, all of these other characters actually earned their places amongst their peers. They weren't around for the comic book equivalent of 5 seconds and declared to be the best of the best. Hell when characters like Amadeus Cho were created, while he was said to be one of the smartest, he certainly was placed as the smartest, he was placed at #7 and even that's been joked at since then. Things like Hulk is the strongest there is and Wolverine is the best there is at what he does are more so hyperbole than actual fact whereas here they're literally trying to prove she is in fact the smartest.

Don't know why her being essentially a prodigy isn't enough and she has to be seen as the best of the best but as I've said earlier in the thread, things like this cause titles like smartest person to lose all meaning considering that they can just throw out some random nobody and just declare them to be the best without really any of the trials that any others had to go through to prove why they're considered for their places.

They're going to have a six-issue arc from #13-18 having her prove she's the smartest. It'll feature 6 other Marvel characters, 1 per issue, I think. Going off the interview I think they thought up Lunella being THE smartest when they realized how much they enjoyed having her one-up Amadeus Cho, the eighth smartest person in the world, and decided 'let's go all the way' XD;

She's a threat to off-worlders, too, with the Kree Empire giving her a 100% threat rate.

[Michael Watkins]

I had a thought-what if we see or hear mention of Lunella in the movies and shows? Not too many new characters get to do that except ones that were created for them.

the most logical place would be the school that Peter Parker is attending. but his relative youth in the movies makes an appearance by Lunella unlikely.

They're going to have a six-issue arc from #13-18 having her prove she's the smartest. It'll feature 6 other Marvel characters, 1 per issue, I think. Going off the interview I think they thought up Lunella being THE smartest when they realized how much they enjoyed having her one-up Amadeus Cho, the eighth smartest person in the world, and decided 'let's go all the way' XD;

She's a threat to off-worlders, too, with the Kree Empire giving her a 100% threat rate.

Amadeus was demoted a long time ago (first issue of Mighty Avengers). not that it hurt him any.

[Michael Watkins]

It undermines these characters and becomes less believable because, unlike her, all of these other characters actually earned their places amongst their peers.

fictional characters who "earned" their place by simply being old.

[bubibartra]

We know Reed is smarter than Doom. It's why Reed gets to recreate the multiverse after Doom botched the job.

But Doom can save the existence.. and Red can not save his own family... (and Reed recognizes this...) and victor don´t recreate the universe because he is alone and he does not trust anyone

but who saves everything is Owen, who is who chooses each at the right time

[lalalei2001]

Since other super-smart people are either dead or indisposed currently it might be a way of both sides getting what they want--she's the smartest person on earth until further notice XD;

[Kurolegacy]

They're going to have a six-issue arc from #13-18 having her prove she's the smartest. It'll feature 6 other Marvel characters, 1 per issue, I think. Going off the interview I think they thought up Lunella being THE smartest when they realized how much they enjoyed having her one-up Amadeus Cho, the eighth smartest person in the world, and decided 'let's go all the way' XD;

She's a threat to off-worlders, too, with the Kree Empire giving her a 100% threat rate.

6 issues vs years of stories proving the fact. It doesn't really compare. The characters who are deemed the smartest aren't really questioned as being such because we've seen stories upon stories of these characters proving their genius over and over again. I just don't see how 1 six issue arc possibly trumps the sheer magnitude of what these genius thinkers have done over the years.

fictional characters who "earned" their place by simply being old.

Yea fictional characters who earned and proved their place over time, not just had it written suddenly that they're the smartest of the smartest. Only character who would believably pull off shooting up the ranks is the X-Men character Prodigy and that's only because his mutant power was literally gaining the knowledge of those he was around and he had it all unlocked that he retained all that knowldge after he lost his powers.

[Colossus1980]

And the second smartest person will obviously be the new transfer student who will appear after the 6 issue arc where she one ups everyone.

So that means the two smartest people in the MU will be two nine year olds whose parents are keeping their kids behind so they can make friends with kids their own age. Moon Girl is the new Mr. Fantastic and the transfer student will be the new Dr. Doom.

[Michael Watkins]

6 issues vs years of stories proving the fact. It doesn't really compare. The characters who are deemed the smartest aren't really questioned as being such because we've seen stories upon stories of these characters proving their genius over and over again. I just don't see how 1 six issue arc possibly trumps the sheer magnitude of what these genius thinkers have done over the years.


Yea fictional characters who earned and proved their place over time, not just had it written suddenly that they're the smartest of the smartest. Only character who would believably pull off shooting up the ranks is the X-Men character Prodigy and that's only because his mutant power was literally gaining the knowledge of those he was around and he had it all unlocked that he retained all that knowldge after he lost his powers.

there goes that word again; "earned." from my perspective, Reed was given his status as "the smartest" similarly to Lunella. the marketing has made it clear that they are setting out to prove that Lunella is the smartest. I'm not seeing the difference.

[Tiamatty]

there goes that word again; "earned." from my perspective, Reed was given his status as "the smartest" similarly to Lunella. the marketing has made it clear that they are setting out to prove that Lunella is the smartest. I'm not seeing the difference.

It's different because Reed was declared the smartest in the '60s. Anything from the '60s is gospel, written in stone and handed down from on high, never to be changed, never to be disputed. Lee and Kirby decided Reed and Doom were the two smartest people, so no one is ever allowed to be smarter than they are, because Lee and Kirby said it, and that means it can't happen. So there.

[Ken Ashcroft]

It's different because Reed was declared the smartest in the '60s. Anything from the '60s is gospel, written in stone and handed down from on high, never to be changed, never to be disputed. Lee and Kirby decided Reed and Doom were the two smartest people, so no one is ever allowed to be smarter than they are, because Lee and Kirby said it, and that means it can't happen. So there.

You might have a point there. Back in the 60s, the Hulk and Thor (along with Hercules who was introduced in the latter 60s) were considered the strongest Marvel heroes and over 50 years later, though there have been other elite strongmen since then like the Sentry, Gladiator, Blue Marvel, Hyperion,etc who you could say are on the same level more or less, whenever, the strongest heroes are been discussed, those 3 still remain the benchmark.

[Ken Ashcroft]

Btw. What happened to Riri Williams? It wasn't that long ago that Marvel said that she would be smarter than Stark which with Richards gone, would probably make her the smartest hero in the MU yet without her having the chance to prove it when her own book launches, she's already been superseded by Moongirl as the smartest.

Are marvel writers having a competition to prove that the character that they are writing is the best or is it just a way to boost interest in the books?