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

[Michael Watkins]

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.

not. Hyperion, Sentry, Blue Marvel, Namor, Red Hulk, Wonder Man...all come up in conversation. i just had a long discussion about it. start a strongest thread.

[Kurolegacy]

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.

Nice strawman there but in the 60's yes, Reed may have been declared to be the smartest but since then not only there have been numerous others who could debatably be the smartest came along but each of these has had years of stories that showed their intelligence. All of these characters were seen as being Reed's peers as the smartest in the MU but no such declaration was ever made to say which of them was in fact the smartest and mentions of that were usually done in a joking manner. In this case they're flat out trying to say that this random 9 year old who has been in publication for a year is smarter than all of them. It has nothing to do with any "gospel of the 60's" as you seem to like to put it for anyone who has a differing opinion on the matter. It feels forced and about as far from a natural progression as it gets.

[Colossus1980]

It feels forced and about as far from a natural progression as it gets.

There is no time for natural progression. Her last issue sold under 10K. It's time to ramp it up and generate as much interest in this struggling title.

[Tiamatty]

There is no time for natural progression. Her last issue sold under 10K. It's time to ramp it up and generate as much interest in this struggling title.

How'd it do digitally? How'd the first trade sell? This is a series that is trying to appeal to a non-traditional audience. So only looking at the Diamond shipping estimates actually kinda misses the whole point.

It's possible it's under-performing Marvel's expectations in other markets. We don't know. We don't have access to that information. If it is under-performing, Marvel will cancel it. As long as it keeps being published, it's safe to assume that Marvel is satisfied with how it's selling.



And, of course, reminder that "kid is smartest person alive" is a fairly standard premise for kid stories, this one is just being played out in the Marvel Universe, and if you object to the premise, you're under no obligation to even acknowledge the very existence of the book. You can feel free to ignore it.

[Michael Watkins]

Nice strawman there but in the 60's yes, Reed may have been declared to be the smartest but since then not only there have been numerous others who could debatably be the smartest came along but each of these has had years of stories that showed their intelligence. All of these characters were seen as being Reed's peers as the smartest in the MU but no such declaration was ever made to say which of them was in fact the smartest and mentions of that were usually done in a joking manner. In this case they're flat out trying to say that this random 9 year old who has been in publication for a year is smarter than all of them. It has nothing to do with any "gospel of the 60's" as you seem to like to put it for anyone who has a differing opinion on the matter. It feels forced and about as far from a natural progression as it gets.

if no declaration was made, then why is it a problem for them to say that Moon Girl is the smartest?

[LOSTie-chan]

Is it just me or would Moon Girl be a more interesting character if she was just a normal girl who was friends with a giant red dinosaur? I dunno what the "smartest person in the world" thing really adds tbh. Shouldn't the fact that she's an inhuman and has a dinosaur be interesting enough?

[LOSTie-chan]

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.

That'd actually be super hilarious.

[Kurolegacy]

if no declaration was made, then why is it a problem for them to say that Moon Girl is the smartest?

The answer to your question is in the next sentence. Unlike with the other characters in which it can be debated who is the smartest among them, this is them making it a fact that she is the smartest. And at the end of the day just what does any of that even add to her? What are they saying that she wasn't interesting to anyone unless they put her up on a pedestal?

[Tiamatty]

Is it just me or would Moon Girl be a more interesting character if she was just a normal girl who was friends with a giant red dinosaur? I dunno what the "smartest person in the world" thing really adds tbh. Shouldn't the fact that she's an inhuman and has a dinosaur be interesting enough?

Making her a genius is, I think, an attempt at attracting young girls (especially black girls) to STEM fields. The default genius, in popular culture, is a white dude. Need a genius in a story? Make it a white dude. If the protagonist of a story is a genius? You'd better damned well believe they're a white dude. Of varying ages, too. There are loads of kids' stories out there where The Smartest Person In The World is a little white boy. Virtually all of Marvel's smartest people are white guys. The only Marvel geniuses who aren't white men who get to be leads are basically T'Challa and Cho. Blue Marvel's gotten a fair bit of use under Ewing. But this just raises the question: Where are the women? Make a list of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe, and how many women will be on it? And of those women, half are supervillains, and the other half are minor supporting characters who show up for an issue or an arc and then drop into limbo forever.

And that matters. Pop culture does influence broader culture. When white men are the only ones ever shown as scientists, it sends the message that white men are the only ones who can be scientists.

So the reason Lunella's a genius is to push back against that. To say, "No, screw that, anyone can be good at science."

It also allows for stories Reeder and Montclare want to tell, and themes they want to explore. Her being a normal girl would actually be more limiting, in a lot of ways.

[ed2962]

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.

The writers and editors decided that hero x will be the best at blah blah and then started doing stories showing them to be the best at blah blah. That's what happened. It's not like Reed Richards or Barry Allen first had to stack up a list of career achievements in the comics over the years and then some objective outside body declared them "fastest man alive" or whatever.

[lalalei2001]

We haven't seen any other writers saying she isn't the smartest so far.

[Michael Watkins]

The answer to your question is in the next sentence. Unlike with the other characters in which it can be debated who is the smartest among them, this is them making it a fact that she is the smartest. And at the end of the day just what does any of that even add to her? What are they saying that she wasn't interesting to anyone unless they put her up on a pedestal?

isn't that the truth? I don't remember you ever talking about her, before.

[Kurolegacy]

isn't that the truth? I don't remember you ever talking about her, before.

Just because I speak about her doesn't mean that I care about her. You seem to confuse this for the aspect of any publicity is good publicity but I didn't buy her book before and I'm not gonna buy it now.

[Michael Watkins]

Just because I speak about her doesn't mean that I care about her. You seem to confuse this for the aspect of any publicity is good publicity but I didn't buy her book before and I'm not gonna buy it now.

but I bet that you'll continue to talk about her; thereby increasing her profile.

[Tiamatty]

Just because I speak about her doesn't mean that I care about her. You seem to confuse this for the aspect of any publicity is good publicity but I didn't buy her book before and I'm not gonna buy it now.

Then why take all this time to bitch about it? Again, if you don't like the story they're going to tell, then just ignore it. It will have no impact, at all, on anything else you're reading. So instead of page after page of bitching about a book you're not reading, you could just . . . move on. Continue to not read it, and to not think about it. Think about the books you are buying.

Crazy idea, I know.