Expert: Justin Case - 11/17/2008

Question
Is Superman super-intelligent? Is he more intelligent than, say, Dr. McCoy?

Q vs. Mr. Mxpsclckjtek (I don't know how to spell his name). I know that the Mr. guy can be sent to his home dimension by saying his name backwards, but really, who's more powerful?

Would Superman die if he fell in a black hole?

Spock, Tuvoc, and Robin (physical match; weapons allowed) vs. Mr. Freeze, Joker, Penguin, and Excaliban


Answer
Hi John -

Well it depends on what source you use regarding Superman.

In some sources there are indications that Superman's brain was exposed to a vast amount of learning while he was a child in the space ship on it's journey to Earth.

In the original Superman:The Movie (with Christopher Reeve), his father says that 'he will fill his child with all the knowledge of the 28 known galaxies.'

However, growing up in Smallville he didn't seem to have any appreciable level of super intelligence that distinguished him from the other students in his classes, so that seemes to be a continuity glitch.

Other sources say he can perform a special Krytponian technique (the name of which escapes me) that allows him to enter a state of 'super hypnosis' in which he can learn new things at an extremely fast rate.

This is a problem too, because if that's the case, he could learn virtually everything in a matter of days and be the most intelligent individual on the planet.  In that case it stretches continuity too much to believe that Lex Luthor can continually outsmart him.

So, I guess the short answere is, I don't know.  Some sources indicate that Superman would be more intelligent than McCoy, others don't seem to support that so much.

Well as far as I know Mr. Mxyplck (or however you spell it) cannot move backward and forward in time the way Q can.  We also haven't seen Mr. M knock a starship across the Galaxy, he mainly performs little annoying tricks with his powers.  

Given that I think Q could easily transport Mr. M back to his home dimension, without having to trick him into saying his name backwards.

Again, Superman's powers have been portrayed with very little consistency over the 60 odd years of his existence, but in my opinion yes, he would be killed if he was dragged to the center of a black hole.

The gravity within a black hole is so powerful that even light cannot escape.  If it can affect photons like that then Superman, no matter how dense his molecular structure, would be crushed.

I think the 'good guys' would have no trouble with the group you mention save The Joker.  He has consistently shown brilliant tactican thinking and an ability to orchestrate long range goals, while seeming to lose in the short term.  Joker is also absolutely ruthless and willing to go to any extreme to achieve his ends.  

If that individual could get an Excalbian on his side, that would be a difficult fight to judge.

I would say, in the end, the 'bad group's' own paranoia and level of mistrust in each other would be their greatest weakness and, that if Spock and co could exploit that, they might be emerge victorious.

Hope that help

Deran