When used correctly, intelligence can be a truly scary thing. Some of the most powerful people in the world are like that because they have the capacity for meticulous planning and great intelligence. The same thing can be said for characters in the comics. Except, because of the nature of the medium, comics tend to be far more fantastic with examples of intelligence, which in turn, makes these characters even more dangerous than anyone in the real world. We can dream, but it’s highly unlikely that anyone will be as smart as the characters near the top of this list.

So many characters in Marvel Comics are able to be involved in this world of gods and magic and superpowers simply because their intelligence and will outclass their opponents. Iron Man is one of Marvel's most powerful heroes because of his intelligence and affinity for technology, and Doctor Doom may be the greatest villain that the Marvel Universe faces because of his extreme intelligence and immovable determination. From genetic engineering to creating planetary superweapons, these people do the impossible as a part of their daily routine. With that being said, here’s our official ranking of the 25 most dangerous minds in the Marvel Universe.

25 RED GHOST

While he may not be the most well-known character, the Red Ghost was one of the Fantastic Four's first villains and has an's incredible intellect deserves to be recognized. Ivan Kragoff and his Super-Apes premiered inFantastic Four#13 in 1963, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He was a Soviet rocket scientist who was determined to win the space race and claim the Moon in the name of Communism. He trained three apes to be his crew (instead of regular people) and shot himself into space. He put himself in the path of the cosmic storm that gave the Fantastic Four their superpowers because he correctly theorized that exposure to the storm would empower him. And on this day, the Red Ghost was born.

Red Ghost’s main power is the ability of intangibility, however his incredible intelligence may be more of a benefit than his powers. Kragoff is an expert in rocketry, engineering, genetics, robotics, physics, and hypnotism and he also possesses a Ph.D. in radiology. On top of that, he’s become somewhat of an expert at training simians due to the circumstances of his origin. He’s invented numerous weapons and machines that have aided him in his evil plans and was even considered smart enough to join Intelligencia, an organization of the smartest supervillains on the planet. This was a group that consisted of the Leader, M.O.D.O.K., and even Doctor Doom, so Kragoff is in good company.

24NORMAN OSBORN

Unhinged, sociopathic, and far more lethal than one might give him credit for, Norman Osborn may just be Spider-Man’s archenemy. However, Osborn managed to go beyond a simple Spider-Man villain and became a Marvel Universe villain during the events ofDark Reign. Osborn was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuted inThe Amazing Spider-Man#14 in 1964. He’s a self-made man who created his own company, Oscorp Industries. However, greed caused him to oust his business partner and use his notes to try and perfect an experimental performance-enhancing drug. The chemical increased his physical and mental abilities at the cost of his sanity.

Osborn may be outclassed on this list, but his intelligence is more about application than just knowing facts.

Osborn may be the most cunning individual on the entire planet. Like Ultron, he is an incredible planner. But unlike Ultron, he has a businessman’s mindset, allowing him to play the long game. And also unlike Ultron, he’s human, which makes it easier for him to manipulate emotions and convince others to do what he wants. He’s essentially a slightly less- smart Lex Luthor. He’s successfully tormented Spider-Man for years. And during Dark Reign, he maneuvered himself into a position of power that essentially let him do whatever he pleased. He’s no slouch in science either. He was knowledgeable in chemistry and electrical engineering, even before the Goblin Formula gave him a genius level intellect in genetics, robotics, engineering, physics and applied chemistry.

23SHURI

The Black Panther is a title that generally stays within the royal family and, because of that, it was inevitable that T’Challa’s younger sister, Shuri, would eventually take on the mantle of Black Panther, even if it was temporary, and have her time in the spotlight. Shuri was created by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr. and premiered inBlack Panther vol. 4 #2 in 2005. In the 2018 MCU blockbuster,Black Panther, Shuri was shown to actually be the most intelligent person on Earth, even smarter than Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. She serves as Wakanda’s resident tech genius and is the brain behind some of the most advanced technology on Earth.

Shuri in the comics may not be quite the genius that her MCU counterpart is, but she does possess intelligence comparable to her brother, T’Challa. Shuri went through very similar training to T’Challa as she had to become the Black Panther once he was exiled from Wakanda. During this training, she also studied until she could be classified as a genius, though she has fewer feats of intelligence to display than her older brother. She has, however, proven to be a skilled tactician, commanding Wakanda’s army during her time as queen and using unconventional tactics to root out insurrectionists.

22ARNIM ZOLA

Most of the people on this list made their name off of their mechanical inventions or their knowledge of any of the branches of physics, but Arnim Zola is different. He may be the world’s foremost expert in biological sciences. Zola premiered inCaptain America#288 in 1977. He was created by Jack Kirby and served (chronologically at least) as one of the first evil geniuses and also as one of the first scientists to truly experiment with genetic engineering after he found data left behind by the ancient Deviants.

He fought Captain America during World War II and survived into now by putting his consciousness in a robot body.

Zola is an exceptional biochemist, best known for creating genetic experiments that can challenge superhumans such as Primus (a shapeshifting android), Doughboy (a mass of extremely malleable, living bioform), Man-Fish (a fish.. man) and Vermin (a man with rat-like abilities). He also has a talent for neurosciences, as he has shown an ability to transfer consciousnesses easily and his robotic body always possesses an ESP box which can control the minds of his creations and others, transfer minds, and attack them. His genius is a big part of why the Red Skull is so dangerous.

21DOCTOR OCTOPUS

Doc Ock is one of the most recognizable mad scientists in the Marvel Universe. Doctor Otto Octavius premiered inThe Amazing Spider-Man #3 in 1963, created by the classic team of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. He was the third villain Spider-Man has ever faced and has evolved into one of the most recognizable and devious villains in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. Only Norman Osborn could possibly challenge him for the mantle of Spider-Man’s archenemy. His scientific genius and the four mechanical arms on his back, that he has full control over, make him more than a match for Spider-Man, who always struggles to defeat Doctor Octopus.

Octavius is one of the leading experts in atomic physics and has a PhD. in nuclear science. His knowledge in radiation is so great that Mister Fantastic asked for his advice when Sue had complications with her pregnancy due to cosmic radiation. His expertise may be in physics, but he’s also a talented engineer and inventor. Doc Ock has invented a great number of devices over the years and seems to have a new one every time Spider-Man encounters him. His most triumphant device, however, was the one that switched his consciousness with that of Spider-Man’s. So while Octavius gained the strength and identity of his greatest foe, he stuck Peter in his old, dying body and Peter was actually unable to switch back, prompting Ock to keep the body and become the Superior Spider-Man.

20ULTRON

Ultron has long been one of the Avengers’ greatest foes. Though he’s remarkably powerful, most of his strength comes from his incredible intelligence and planning. He was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema and premiered inThe Avengers#54 in 1968. In-universe, Ultron was invented by Hank Pym and modeled him after his own brain patterns. Ultron almost immediately developed an Oedipus complex and rebelled against his creator, eventually turning against the whole world as well. His first action against the world was to reform the Masters of Evil to take out the Avengers.

A super-robot created by one of the smartest men in the world definitely has a place on this list.

Ultron has consistently been a worldwide threat since his creation. He’s one of the Avengers’ greatest foes and a lot of that has to do with his ability to create nearly foolproof plans. He’s pushed the Avengers to their limits by engineering situations where they’re designed to fail at stopping him. And he does it better than many villains. Also, as a robot, he was created with the entire world’s knowledge at his disposal. He’s a skilled inventor as well, with his greatest creation being the synthezoid Vision who possesses sentience and was powerful enough to take on the Avengers in his first appearance.

19ADAM BRASHEAR

What can’t this guy do? Adam Brashear, or Blue Marvel, is one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe. He’s able to trade blows with the likes of Thor and the Sentry. But unlike those two, he’s also a genius. Blue Marvel premiered inAdam: Legend of Blue Marvelin 2008, and was created by Kevin Grevioux. However, he’s been a hero since the 1960s. He was convinced to retire by the United States government once his costume was damaged in battle, and it was revealed that he was black.

After that, Brashear put his intelligence to good use and became a physics professor at the University of Maryland. But his intelligence can be used for things beyond teaching. Brashear possesses a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics and a Masters in Electrical Engineering, both from Cornell University. What he’s most well known for, however, is his expertise on the relatively unknown phenomenon of Anti-Matter, which is created via the interaction between the Negative Zone and the regular universe. He and his partner, Conner Sims, invented a Negative Reactor to create a stable portal to the Negative Zone and they planned to use this event horizon to draw on Anti-Matter. His knowledge of this phenomenon allowed him to defeat the more powerful Sims who gained incredible abilities in the same accident that gave Brashear his powers.

18M.O.D.O.K.

When about 75% of your body is made up of a head, you’re bound to have a formidable intelligence. M.O.D.O.K premiered inTales of Suspense#93 where he was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a Captain America villain. He was originally born George Tarleton until mutagenic experimentations by A.I.M. turned him into the villainous M.O.D.O.K or Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing (initially, the "K" was a "C" that stood for Computing). A.I.M. planned to use Tarleton’s incredible intellect to study and improve the Cosmic Cube that they recently created but barely understood.

However, M.O.D.O.K. rebelled against his masters and took over A.I.M. for himself.

M.O.D.O.K was created to be intelligent. His mind is essentially a supercomputer, as he’s able to analyze large amounts of complex data, retain it seemingly forever, and perform complicated calculations instantaneously. He also possesses the ability to calculate the probability of events so effectively that he seems to know what people are going to do before they do it. However, M.O.D.O.K. does not possess any creativity beyond that of a normal person, making him easy to predict and counter if you’ve dealt with him before.

17PROFESSOR XAVIER

If his powers were taken into consideration, Professor Charles Xavier would easily be near the top of this list. However, even without his powers, Xavier is still very intelligent. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and, obviously and made his first appearance inX-Men#1 in 1963. He is the person who plucked the original five X-Men out of their lives of fear and isolation and brought them to his school for mutants. From there, Xavier has been a fixture, not just for the X-Men but in the entire Marvel Universe.

Xavier has been acknowledged several times as the world’s foremost expert on mutations. Though he might not abuse his knowledge to the extent that Mister Sinister and the High Evolutionary do, he has learned all there is to learn about mutants. But he has knowledge of other fields as well, with applicable knowledge in life sciences, engineering, and psionics. He’s the person who invented Cerebro and has invented numerous devices that can enhance and regulate psionic abilities. On top of that, Xavier has proven to be a master strategist, as he’s shown to be able to deploy the X-Men in the most efficient way possible and develops long-term plans that rival those of Mister Sinister.

16 IRONHEART

Being a teenager is hard enough. But being smart enough to attend M.I.T. at the age of 11 and then invent your own Iron Man armor from scraps is a whole new level of difficult. But Riri Williams managed to do so and then eventually carved out a role for herself as the young hero: Ironheart. She was created in 2016’sInvincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #7 by Brian Michael Bendis. She is a tech prodigy whose intelligence created behavioral problems at a young age. However, that changed when she attended M.I.T. and, at the ripe old age of 15, constructed her own Iron Man armor after reverse engineering parts from Iron Man’s Mark 41 armor and stealing additional parts from on campus.

Riri is an incredibly bright young woman who was identified as a genius by the age of 11.

She may not have any degrees, but she’s a master engineer just like her mentor, Tony Stark. Her first Iron Man suit was built from outdated and subpar parts, yet she still managed to stop a truck with a single punch. Then, under the tutelage of an A.I Tony Stark, she developed the Ironheart armor which is powerful enough to punch out the Rhino. She’s so smart that she was able to create two viruses in combat situations and repair the Fantasticar in a few seconds. Ironheart has a bright future in the Marvel Universe as one of the premier scientific minds in the world.