This

He himself keeps admitting a bunch of other people are smarter than him. Even Peter Parker. So it's hard to tell when he doesn't even believe himself to be the smarter of the two. Not saying he isn't smarter but is there a reason people claim he is?

I think deadpool's the smartest jk ( mind you he did kill them both)

@karrob: @princeimc: @morpheus_: Eternity said "they MAY be smarter." Eternity never said they ARE smarter.

Did you see the scan above. Reed is smarter says Eternity. Tony wasn't refereed to as smarter but as another facet of the intelligence puzzle But the acknowledgement from Pym and Eternity IMO means that those 3 are on considered the most intelligent hero's hands down with Reed being acknowledged as the smartest overall. With that said since most of Tony's technological advancements mostly benefiting him I give the edge to Pym in brains.

Hank is the Scientist Supreme. Tony isn't as smart as him.

It's like asking is a brain surgeon is smarter than a computer programmer. And then making them switch places. They both have their specific and respected lines of work. Socerer/Scientist supreme clearly doesn't mean the best of the best, it's just how they handle themselves, how they are as a person, and how they handle their respected line of work...

....if that was the case we wouldn't have someone claiming a 15 year old peter parker was smarter than him.

Reed>Hank>Tony (just out of those three).

I honestly think that Tony's by far and wide the intellectual wunderkind that Reed and Hank both wished they could be.

Hank and Reed research to come to conclusions that Tony seems to accomplish in seconds, possibly due to the aforementioned upgrade which boosted his intelligence far beyond standard human levels. Tony sees a problem, and immediately comes up with both a solution and execution, and then works toward that execution. This is why Tony's foes need to be more of the mind than the body, such as The Mandarin, Zeke Stane, the Hammer sisters, and so on.

It's also worth noting that Tony is an incredibly strategist, as we saw thanks to Fraction's run, and there's been evidence in the past that Tony can apply his vast intellect to detective-work, too. Most notably, Tony is out there, trying to save the world with ideas like Stark Resilient, whereas Reed and Pym slave over their studies in musty old labs, ignoring their life and the world outside. They need to actually sit down and think about a problem, whereas Tony just immediately arrives at the solution.

Of course, endless research and insecure second-guessing likely amount to good qualities for a scientist, hence Hank becoming the Scientist Supreme. But, again, Hank was also told that he wasn't nearly as clever as Tony. The area where Hank or Reed differ from Tony is that both want to sit in a lab second-guessing themselves. Tony doesn't need to second-guess himself, he's beyond that. He's a living computer at this point, he runs simulations on the fly, in his head. He simulates everything he needs to within the space of his brain whilst he's doing other things, and then he applies that with aplomb.

And speaking of how Tony can multitask, it's worth noting that he can attend social venues and interviews whilst still piloting his armour, without being in it. He can pilot a highly complicated piece of machinery which is centuries more advanced than anything else within that Universe, and at the same time he can be elsewhere, doing other things. So the raw computing power of his mind is astounding.

I'm also going to be controversial, here -- Doom is a poser, and Tony would likely be able to deal with him so much more easily than Reed. The Mandarin is a far more clever, strategic, and intelligent foe than Doom could ever hope to be. Doom is, quite honestly, a pale imitation of Fraction's Mandarin. I've never seen a Marvel villain actually pull off something so profoundly Machiavellian.

I guess it's not fair, really.

The thing is is that if we were comparing Tony pre-upgrade to Reed and Hank, then Reed would likely beat him to the punch, and Hank would be lagging behind them both. But after the upgrade? Tony doesn't have a human-level intellect any more. He has something so, so much more. After Extremis and all of the modifications he's made himself, he's posthuman, through and through, whereas Reed and Hank are just... human.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that whilst Tony has had a successful career building all sorts of things, and only very rarely has he produced a bad invention, Hank and Reed have a vast library of failures to their name. Just something to consider.

So I don't even think it's a fight.

I think that for the Neo-Luddite though, there's going to be a preferential attitude towards Reed/Hank, because they're just humans and not posthumans. But that's just silly. The mountains of evidence show that Tony was always on par, but surpassed them when he became posthuman.

Talking about the equipment in the Doomsquest story? Doom admire Iron Man's intelligence and calls him a genius.

In Doomquest when they are making the device to get back in time he thinks that he have never met one with such a intuitive gasp of electronics. You could make the assumption that Tony at least thinks he is smarter than Hank when it comes to electronics.

@tupiaz: Yeah i dont know the Doomquest story. I would be happy to hear about it though, or if you can tell me the issues to read

Marvel ranks Banner higher than Stark, nevermind Pym.

There are two stories the first one is in vol. 1 149-150 where Doom admires Iron Man (Tony Stark) (see my last post). In the follow up story (also know as Recurring Knightmare) in vol. 1 249-250 (both written by David Michelinie, no he didn't stay on for that long he had a break between his two runs even though he has written over 80 regular Iron Man issues not counting annuals and mini series). I don't remember anything mentioned in the follow up story that mention Starks intelligence they are both collected in the Hardcover Doomquest. The first story is collected in David Michelinie omnibus vol. 1 (his second run will be released in a vol. 2 at some point but vol. 1 was released earlier this year so it could take a while). David Michelinie made a third Iron Man versus Doom story in the miniseries Legacy of Doctor Doom (like the two first also drawn by Bob Layton).

However if we go back to the Hank Pym versus Iron Man then in the beginning of the Iron Monger story vol. 1 193-194 (taken place between the two Doomquest stories written by Dennis O'Neil who was the primarily writer between David Mcihelinie's two run) Tony Stark says Hank Pym is one of the Smartest men Tony knows. James Rhodes (this is before he became War Machine and is at this point Iron Man) is seeking help from Hank with the Iron Man suit (it gives him headaches because the suit is build for Tony Stark's brainwaves). However the reason for this is that Tony Stark doesn't want anything to do with the Iron Man suit as he sees it as the reason he began drinking (he couldn't live up to the image as a hero).

I hope that helps added some bonus info.

Pym is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay smarter.

Pym. But it is close.

lol

no contest here

Pym. But not by much

Hank Pym is smarter

@auldwolf: You sir, just won this thread! Stark FTW!

Pym has an inferiority complex and always thinks someone else is smarter than him. Tony Stark has a superiority complex and always thinks he's smarter, except when the truth can't be denied. That's why his admission that Pym is smarter should be taken seriously.

Stark believes Pym is smarter.

A lot of people have a point about talk being cheap, but what about when Hank Pym was having problems with his growing powers (for weeks) and Stark solved the problem easily?

Besides, Stark has also claimed that T'Challa and Reed are the smartest people he's ever known, so at that point it's kind of hard to go off of statements anyway. Stark could have very well been trying to play with their egos in order to get what he wanted in both instances. He is manipulative in that way.

Debatable, but I'd say Stark.

^ That awkward moment when someone thinks a Comic vine user created rating system is an official Marvel released list. Lmfao.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/marvel/4010-31/forums/8-unaided-smartest-men-on-earth-in-marvel-universe-635095/

Yeah, "@hulkomaniac" seems like a real expert on Marvel's official list, doesn't he? I mean he does have 8 posts after all.

Comic vine fan made ratings <<<<<~<<<<<<<<<<<feats and statements in comics.

EDIT: Wikipedia articles aren't reliable either because they are literally edited by fans. There is no proof that Marvel writers, editors, publishers, or ANY employees contributed to any list on a Wikipedia page. You can say whatever you want on Wiki as long as you put an issue number as a citation, they will post it without question. Lmao.

@noone1996: LOL whatever happened to that dude anyway? Going by his post count it seems he went and expanded his trolling beyond the IM forum :p

@amazingfantasy: it's a long story. If you want, PM me and I'll give you details. He got banned since his ridiculous views essentially turned the entire website against him.

@noone1996: Ok thanks, sent ya a PM. And oh, that's good then LOL I'm just surprised that you and others actually had the patience to even talk to him, or simply acknowledge his existence! LOL

@noone1996 said:

A lot of people have a point about talk being cheap, but what about when Hank Pym was having problems with his growing powers (for weeks) and Stark solved the problem easily?

Besides, Stark has also claimed that T'Challa and Reed are the smartest people he's ever known, so at that point it's kind of hard to go off of statements anyway. Stark could have very well been trying to play with their egos in order to get what he wanted in both instances. He is manipulative in that way.

You have selective memory when it comes to Iron Man asking for Pym's help. How about when Iron Man was trapped in the past, who did he turn to to build a time machine for him? Pym

How about when Stark thought Vision might be dead, and Hank showed up, and then Stark ended up being the real doctor's orderly as Pym fixed Vision.

Or How about when one of Iron Man's girlfriends was dying and it took Pym to save her. Or when Iron Man's fellow Avenger Firestar was dying, who did she turn to ... yep, the reservist Pym. Better to have a smart guy only there occasionally than a Stark there all the time.

@just_sayin: The only reason he goes to Pym so often is because he doesn't want to take the chance outside of his field. That doesn't mean he can't do it himself. He would just rather have someone with more knowledge help him instead of wasting time learning and then trying to solve the issue. The Iron Age crap was horrible writing though since he's built time machines on his own twice before. Not to mention the fact that he's even displayed intimate knowledge of Doom's time machine on more than one occasion as well. Hell, in Agents of Atlas vs Avengers he basically admits temporal physics is not his strong suit and that he learned more from Kang than he ever could. Why Stark needed his help is beyond me.

Hank. He wasn't Scientist Supreme for nothing.

@just_sayin: Also, that scan you posted only displayed Hank giving Tony the tracking device for Dooms fragments which not only had magical components to it, but Tony actually admitted that he didn't have any resources since he was in the past and didn't want to use Stark industries. Again, being time efficient was another factor.

Superman .

Stark calls on Pym when he needs a real scientists help. In Avengers 93, Iron Man declared Vision to be dead. Luckily Pym was there to save Vision or else Stark would have killed him.

Stark's girlfriend would be dead too, if Pym hadn't saved her.

Hey, now that you mention Kang --- that reminds me of the first time he fought the Avengers and Hank came up with that dissolving spray that allowed the Avengers to defeat him, while Iron Man had his hands in his Iron pockets.

Stark isn't as smart as Pym. But don't despair. There are several things that Iron Man is better at than Pym. Like:

1) being an a hole.

2) killing Avengers (Stark killed Pym legacy Yellowjacket - Rita DeMaria, when Stark was too weak to handle Kang's mind control).

3) Being a douche and dating a friends ex.

@noone1996: The fact that Pym would take Stark equipment (the Kang reference) which isn't able to save the day and turn it into something that can, does not prove Stark's intelligence; it proves Pym's genius.

And it seems to me that you have forgotten the stuff that Iron Man has ripped off of Pym. Remember in Sixis when Stark takes a sentiental AI and uses it to capture Avengers. He used Pym Particles to do it. Wonder where he got that Idea?

I know Reed says he knows more about Pym Particles than Pym does. But that's his arrogance talking. They call them Pym Particles for a reason.

The truth is Stark is a one trick pony. His solution to just about everything is make an armored suit. Pym is much more versatile and creative.

For example, Tony Stark wanted to fly, so he built a suit of Iron. Pym wanted to fly - he grew himself wings. Or created a jet pack, or a flying sentient being he named Rover to carry him around, or designed a suit that can fly, or invented a method of communicating with insects and surfed on their backs. Pym - versatile, Stark - one trick pony.

Gallery

Stark just isn't in the same league as Pym as far as his abilities. Exhibit A - getting your team halfway around the world. Pym created what he calls a "Pymporter" that can instantly move his team to anywhere in space-time in a moment. When Iron Man needed to get his team across town in a hurry he had them take a commuter bus.

Yep, Pym bends space and time to get his team around the globe or universe in a moment, but with Iron Man as your leader - you are dependent on the bus schedule.

So just so we are clear- If you instantly need to get rid of a super-villain possessed by an ancient Asgardian god, Pym can create a trans-dimensional doorway from a skyscrapper in less than 15 seconds. And Iron Man will be looking for bus tokens.

Does Stark have a skyscraper in his pockets like Pym? I didn't think so.

Exhibit B. Need to stop an exploding volcano instantly before it destroys entire cities. Pym pulls out a gun that sends the exploding lava into another dimension. What does Stark do to instantly stop an exploding volcano? Put on Lava armor? No, he calls Pym to see if he can borrow his dimensional transporter gun.

Exhibit C. - Pym is more than just an engineer who can make a suit (even though he did create himself an Adamantium Yellowjacket suit). He is a genius in multiple disciplines. He created a method in order to talk to and command various forms of insects to move rubble or trains if need be. Can Iron Man do that?

No, he can't. What "tool" does Iron Man go and get when he wants to talk to the animals ? Answer- a See-N-Say. "The cow says moo", but Stark still has no idea what he means.

Your right. Stark is used more in the comics. Pym is often regulated to the scientist role. But in his last turn as leader of the Avengers he took down in just a handful of issues - the Unspoken, Chthon, Norman Osborn, Dark Avengers, Loki, and Ultron - who incidentally turned Tony and his armor into a nude Janet Van Dyne during Tony's run as Avenger's leader. But it all worked out for the Avengers - they called Pym and he found a solution.

Lol so creating teleporters and talking to insects puts Hank above Tony and all of those feats I posted? Weak. Very weak.

Where's Stark's device to talk to animals? Again, here it is.

Hey, if it wasn't impressive to create a device to talk to and control another species then Stark could do it.

So explain why Iron Man, as their leader, is putting the Avengers on a bus. Pym folds space-time in on itself and the only thing Stark can do is play bus crossing guard and has the Avengers catch a bus to go across town? That my friend is weak, very weak.

So, among super geniuses. Pym - dimensional space-time traveler, Stark - public transportation rider.

@krleavenger: "And he is not as nearly as smart as Pym or Tony."???

You are really ignorant .

@krleavenger: Sorry for bad language .

Kryptonians has far far far higher IQ than humans .

Tony's IQ is only 195 and Superman has far more complex brain .

Yes Clark don't use his talents and intelligence . But his "potential" IQ is higher .

@krleavenger: Alright , Tony's IQ higher than Bruce Wayne ?

@krleavenger: Bruce's IQ is 192 . Namely , general opinion .

Let's take a look at Stark and Pym's accomplishments side by side.

Tony Stark	Hank Pym
made a gray suit of Iron	discovered Pym particles that let him shrink and alter his mass
made a yellow suit of Iron	Discovered Kosmos dimension and figured out how to pull and push mass from there
Created a red and yellow suit of Iron	Discovered method to talk to and command insects through cybernetic helmet
Adds roller skates to suit of Iron	Pioneers method to implant working wasp wings in Janet Van Dyne that appear only when she shrinks. Also implants antenae that allow her to talk to insects

Wow, its really close so far. Iron Man's suit and accessories seem every bit as impressive as the discovery of another dimension, ability to manipulate size and weight, talk to insects, and implant working wings in someone.

Well Let's see if Pym can catch up.

Iron Man	Hank Pym
Created an updated red and yellow suit of iron	Discovered method to use one's own bio-energy and converted it into blasts. First implanted in the Wasp.
created another updated red and yellow suit	Became the god of Artificial intelligence by creating Ultron
created another updated red and yellow suit	Pioneers life saving method that saves the Wasp after Iron Man tried to kill her. Using her wasp implants, he puts her in a cocoon state so she can heal.
Along with Reed Richards, creates Clor - a Thor clone who kills Bill Foster	Captured the conscious of Bill Foster after Iron Man's Clor killed him and created for Bill a virtual reality heaven.
Created the Hulkbuster Iron Man armor	Discovers Overspace dimension, discovers underspace dimension, creates infinite Avengers Mansion, creates Jocasta, creates space-time dimensional trasportation system called Pymporter, created Rover, saved several heroes from death using technology (Vision, Firestar, Veil, Reptil, Hazmat), travels to Beyonders universe, creates the Big House secure prison, creates Secret Avengers Satellite, creates toolbot with over 900 tools, creates new life form of virtual reality creatures who exist inside of computers, creates tool to identify and counter magic, etc.

Wow. It is so close. If only Pym had created an iron suit -- but wait he created an adamantium one.

But wait ... I don't think it had roller skates in it.