# Who is smarter Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518 "2011-08-12T22:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/21 "2011-08-13T18:18:09Z")
I actually won a No-prize when I was 14! Er… ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/22 "2011-08-13T18:45:11Z")
Is my recollection of Silver Age Luthor correct: he was driven to seek vengeance on Superman because he blamed Superboy for his hair loss? He could build robots, time machines, rocket ships, and androids, yet couldn’t make his hair grow back? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/23 "2011-08-13T18:57:50Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Is my recollection of Silver Age Luthor correct: he was driven to seek vengeance on Superman because he blamed Superboy for his hair loss? That was part of it. Luthor had created a synthetic life-form in his lab; a fire broke out; Superboy swooped in to extinguish the flames with a powerful gust of breath, which smashed a bunch chemicals into each other; the fumes killed the creature and made all of Luthor’s hair fall out. So every time he looks in the mirror, Lex is reminded that either (a) Kal-El is an irresponsible musclehead who needs to be supervised, or (b) Kal-El is a smiling dick with a vendetta against Lex. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/24 "2011-08-13T20:05:42Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > What would that be (I dont read comics anymore but I’m curious)? Well, Ultimate Reed had discovered the Negative Zone in his early teens, travelled to it and back a little bit later on in his teens, created a Cosmic Cube right after that, and seemed to be heading towards being as smart as the regular universe Reed before he was 20. If they would’ve followed it into adulthood, he would’ve easily been smarter than anyone in both universes. But they decided to screw it up as usual by introducing all the regular FF stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/25 "2011-08-13T23:27:06Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Doom is a serious magic user, has a time machine in his armour and has taken over the entire Marvel Universe. It isn’t close. For badassery, sure. Doom wins. Hell, in a fight, Doom almost certainly wins. But Luthor wins on pure brainpower. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/26 "2011-08-14T01:15:34Z")
> [@diku](#): > > Yeah, but Luthor is one of the smartest men in the DC universe, and the geniuses there are generally more outsized than Marvel. I disagree. The upper limits of brute strength and raw speed are higher in DC, but otherwise the universes’ are on a par with one another. Hell, for magnetic powers and psychic abilities, Marvel takes the crown easily. And I’d put Doom and/or Richards against the best DC has to offer. Though of course the real answer is whoever the writers want to win that afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/27 "2011-08-14T01:19:11Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Latvaria. > And my money would be on Luthor. Doom is smart, but he augments his normal smarts with magic. Luthor is just a straight up evil genius. I don’t believe Doom augments his normal smarts with magic; I think he’s smart enough to master both the mystic arts and the sciences, which is a different thing. But even if that’s true, so what? Tony Stark augments his normal physical strength with armor, and Michael Holt does not. That doesn’t invalidate Iron Man’s unquestionable ability to take Mr. Terrific in an arm-wrestling contest. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/28 "2011-08-14T01:22:24Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Is my recollection of Silver Age Luthor correct: he was driven to seek vengeance on Superman because he blamed Superboy for his hair loss? He could build robots, time machines, rocket ships, and androids, yet couldn’t make his hair grow back? Fanwank: I don’t think he cared that he was bald for its own sake. He was angry because, in his own mind, Superboy \*made him go bald – \*that is, betrayed him – to show him up; and to make it worse, he was working on a potion to make Kal immune to Kryptonite poisoning at the time. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/29 "2011-08-14T19:12:54Z")
I generally agree with Fenris’ assessment. Luthor’s scope is just so small compared with Doom’s. It was a big deal when Luthor was elected President, for instance, while Doom has been ruling Latveria with a literal iron fist for decades. Luthor went nuts just having possessed an orange power ring for a while; Doom eats that kind of power for breakfast. I disagree that the measure of intelligence is higher in the DCU than in the Marvel U. Currently I’d argue the opposite. Reed and Valeria Richards in FF are a lot smarter than anybody in the DCU I can think of right now. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518/30 "2011-08-14T21:05:19Z")
Doom also took over the Marvel earth and gave it up out of boredom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-smarter-dr-doom-or-lex-luthor/592518.md?page=1)