In genius studies, greatest fictional geniuses ever refers to greatest fictional geniuses ever seen in print, folklore, and or film.
List | Meta-analysis
The following is a work-in-progress ranking, by IQ, shown below in loose descending order of conceptualized intellect, of the greatest fictional geniuses of all time, culled from various listings and sources, ranked generally per standard IQ ranking methodology protocol, such as seen in the genius IQs table of non-fictional geniuses—many of which serving as conceptual models for fictional geniuses, as indicated: [1]
Dr. John Faust (1587) | See: Faust; Faustian; Johann Faust
Hari Seldon (Foundation Series, 1942) | See: Isaac Asimov
Will Hunting (Good Will Hunting, 1997) | Based on William Sidis (Ѻ) whose IQ is cited between 250 to 300
Eddie Morra (Limitless, 2011) | Claimed IQ: four-digits; called a “21st century Faust” (Ѻ)
Chris Knight (Real Genius, 1985)
Note: Mitch Taylor (Real Genius, 1985) | Based on Stephen Baccus (Ѻ) whose IQ is cited between 180-something (Ѻ) to 190, the latter as estimated by Aaron Stern, father of famous forced prodigy Edith Stern (IQ estimated at 203) [3]
Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory, 2007) | Claimed IQ: 187; based on Leon Cooper (1930-) (Ѻ)
Fred Tate (Little Man Tate, 1991)
Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus, 1818) | See: laboratory produced life (Mary Shelley)
Dr. Hannibal Lecture (Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)
Seth Brundle (The Fly, 1986)
Dr. Manhattan (Watchman, 2009)
Max Cohen (Pi, 1998)
Mr. Spock (Star Trek, 1964)
Dr. Emmett Brown (Back to the Future, 1985)
Sherlock Holmes (A Study in Scarlet, 1887)
Jeremy Reed (Powder, 1995)
Dr. Stephen Falken (WarGames, 1983)
Elyes Gabel (Scorpion, 2014) | Based on Walter O’Brien who claims an IQ of 197 (Ѻ)
Jimmy Neutron (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, 2001)
Dr. Alexander Hartdegen (The Time Machine, 2002)
Gandalf (The Hobbit, 1937)
Jamal Wallace (Finding Forrester, 2000)
Robert Llewellyn (Proof, 2005)
Anna Hart (Anna to the Infinite Power, 1982)
Nick Newell (The Kid with the 200 I.Q., 1983)
(add discussion)
Poll | Colloquial opinion
A Jun 2014 poll, conducted by American electrical engineer Libb Thims, who queried a number of people with the question: “who do you think are the three greatest fictional people or characters of all time?”, found the following results:
1. Sherlock Holmes | 5 votes
2. Dr. Gregory House | 5 votes
3. Bruce Wayne (Batman) | 3 votes
4. James Bond | 3 votes
5. Tony Stark (Iron Man) | 2 votes
6. Prof X (Charles Xavier) | 2 votes
other names mentioned included: Morpheus, Hannibal Lector, MacGyver, Spock.
The following is a wikia list of super geniuses from the Marvel universe: [4]
1. Reed Richards
2. Hank Pym
3. Bruce Banner
4. Doctor Doom
5. Tony Stark
6. T’Challa (aka Black Panther)
7. Hank McCoy
8. Samuel Sterns
9. M.O.D.O.K.
Superhero geniuses
The following is a ranked listing of the 10 smartest superheroes according to a 2005 Business Week article by Joseph Pisani: [2]
1. Reed Richards
2. Bruce Wayne | Semi-modeled on: Howard Hughes
3. Tony Stark | Semi-modeled on: Howard Hughes
4. Henry Pym (or Hank Pym)
5. Hank McCoy
6. Bruce Banner
7. Barbara Gordon
8. Peter Parker
9. Charles Xavier
10. Ray Plamer
One Marvel Answers discussion lists the following as the top four plus or minus: (Ѻ)
1. Tony Stark
2. Reed Richards
3. Bruce Banner
4. Hank Pym
(add discussion)
Other
● The 2006 film The Genius Club, premised on a scientist with an IQ of over 200 who builds a bomb and threatens to blow Washington DC up unless the President brings together all the people he can find with IQs over 200 to an abandoned building in DC to play a game. The game consists of a Q & A with questions all relating to solving the world's problems. The participants (which turns out to be seven geniuses with IQs over 200) are taken from their lives on Christmas Eve and are put through the test and if they can amass 1,000 points before dawn the next morning, they can walk and DC is safe. At times, the discussion is said to be reminiscent of university lectures, but as the questions progressed to being more moral, the feel of the movie changes. The discussions, however, come off as more like those of a randomly selected group of reasonably intelligent people, who end up discussing rather mundane questions, such as why toner ink is so expensive, war, famine, etc., the culmination of which is an attempt to arguably prove the existence of god, albeit a discussion that results to be the same old tired Rene Descartes and C.S. Lewis arguments.
Books
● Pfeffer, Adam. (2011). The Genius with the 225 IQ. iUniverse.
References
1. (a) 23 Awesome Geniuses in Movies (2011) – TotalFilm.com.
(b) Top 10 Movie Geniuses (2014) – (WatchMojo.com) YouTube.com.
(c) Ten Films Portraying Genius (2010) – ListVerse.com.
(d) The 10 Best Movies About Genius (2012) – OnlineUniversities.com.
2. Pisani, Joseph. (2006). “The Smartest Superheroes” (list), Business Week, May 31.
3. (a) Burns, Ashley and Schildhause, Chloe. (2015). “The Behind the Scenes Story of Real Genius” (Ѻ), UpRoxx, Dec 4
(b) Baccus, Stephen A. (2010), “Email to Libb Thims” (quote: “The 190 estimate was given by psychologist Aaron Stern after he interviewed me when I was around 10 years old. Hope this helps.”), Oct 2.
4. Marvel’s Super-Geniuses – Wikia.com.
External links
● Improbably High IQ – TVTropes.org.
● List of fictional child prodigies – Wikipedia.
