Ever since Batman teamed up with Robin the Boy Wonder to fight crime, superhero mentors have been a core part of the DC Universe – but leading children into battle against violent criminals is no easy feat. It takes an attentive mind to oversee the well-being of a minor under even ideal circumstances. This probably explains why many of DC’s most famous mentor figures are all incredibly smart.
Of course, there are different types of intelligence and many different styles of mentoring. While these heroes each have their own unique approach, their minds are always working, and each is smarter than the last.
10 Green Arrow Made Trick Arrows And Expensive Which He Shared With Speedy
Oliver Queen became Green Arrow after being stranded on a desert island. He is a complicated man, simultaneously being a spoiled billionaire playboy, stubborn rage-filled loud-mouth, and political leftist committed to social justice. Few people give Oliver credit for his genius. Admittedly, his stubbornness and temper frequently override his reason. That said, Oliver’s incredibly smart.
Green Arrow personally designed different trick arrows and other weapons, including vehicles (though he’s since outsourced this work). He constantly pushes himself to grow and learn so that he can improve the world around him, identifying problems that his fellow Justice Leaguers overlook. And he’s a master detective. Unfortunately, while he trained his various sidekicks to build and shoot trick arrows, his other character flaws often left him lacking as a mentor.
9 Barry Allen Is A Forensics Genius Who Trained Wally West
The Speed Force gave Barry Allen his powers and turned him into the Flash. This speed extends beyond his muscles and into his brain. Barry’s neurons can fire at translight speeds, allowing him to think at superspeed. He is both a forensics expert and a huge science nerd, having trained the young Wally West to become Kid Flash (and eventually, the next Flash).
That said, although Barry is smart, he’s not a genius. Anyone with his mental processing power should be able to be a lot quicker to pick up basic facts that Barry often overlooks. While he is dense, thinking so fast puts his mind well ahead of most of the competition.
8 Barbara Gordon Is A World-Class Hacker Who Mentored Future Batgirls
Barbara Gordon’s initial career as Batgirl came to an end after she sustained severe spinal trauma. She continued to help the superhero community with a new moniker, Oracle, being one of foremost hackers in the world. Using her knowledge of computers, psychology, and strategy, Oracle assisted superheroes on their field missions by advising them from afar. On top of all this, she has a photographic memory.
Barbara trained two future Batgirls, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. Eventually, her injuries were healed and she returned to being the primary Batgirl.
7 Scientific Genius Ray Palmer Imparted His Knowledge To The Next Atom
Ray Palmer is the original Atom of DC’s Earth-1 (though Earth-2’s Atom is slightly older). He pioneered a way to shrink down to subatomic sizes, an amazing feat of quantum engineering! It should be noted that he pulls this all off while dealing with the additional struggles caused by his struggles with mental health. Ray also mentored his successor, the young Atom Ryan Choi, who was himself a prodigy of the sciences. The two make a good team.
6 Superman Thinks At Superspeed And Showed Other Kryptonians To Do The Same
While Superman is known for his physical strength, he can think at superhuman speeds like The Flash. In fact, Clark Kent has a more level head on his shoulders than Barry. He taught himself to perform surgery and learned new languages while reading books with superspeed. Superman has also negotiated peace talks between different alien cultures, invented advanced robots to monitor the Fortress of Solitude, and navigated the complex paradoxes of time travel.
His cousin Kara Zor-El became Supergirl, benefiting from his teachings. Furthermore, his son Jonathan Kent has grown into a hero in his own right, helped along by Superman’s influence.
5 Ted Kord’s Business Acumen And Mechanical Skills Helped Him Train Jaime Reyes As Blue Beetle
Ted Kord is an immature man-child with a history of juvenile pranks. As such, many of his superhero colleagues don’t take him seriously. After a long superhero career as Blue Beetle, he was killed when his colleagues refused to help him after he uncovered a plot from the group Checkmate hat threatened all heroes (and all of humanity). When Ted eventually returned to life, he began mentoring the next Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes.
Ted has designed numerous high-tech gadgets to fight crime, including an impressive aerial ship called the Bug. His understanding of weaponeering, applied physics, advanced mathematics, and both electrical and mechanical engineering exceed most experts in these fields. Just as impressive is his business acumen. While he inherited some wealth, Ted’s among the most successful honest businessmen in DC Comics.
4 John Constantine Outsmarted Devils, Mentored A Swamp Elemental, And Taught Powerful Magicians
John Constantine walks a fine line between being a smart-aleck, a wise sage, and an overconfident fool. Born into poverty in Liverpool, he taught himself magic by studying whatever occult books he could get his hands on. While he’s saved the world, John cheats, lies, steals and loses himself in every vice there’s a name for. Although he’s controversial at the best of times as well, John is one of the foremost minds on the occult.
Unlike other occultists, John is profoundly street smart, a world-class negotiator, and he understands how people work. He taught the Swamp Thing to master his powers and has coached numerous young magi, including both his own niece and DC’s most powerful magic user, Timothy Hunter. In fact, John outsmarted the devil. Even more impressively, he outsmarted three of them – then manipulated them into curing his cancer!
3 Wonder Woman Has Been Blessed With The Wisdom Of Athena
There are many types of intelligence. While most “genius” characters in DC Comics are praised for their knowledge of a particular field of study – especially as it relates to the sciences – this is a fairly limited definition. When the Amazon princess Diana left her homeland of Themyscira to come to man’s world, she was blessed by the Greek gods with divine gifts that let her become Wonder Woman.
Athena, the goddess of wisdom, imbued her with that divine wisdom. Wonder Woman has mentored several young proteges, including Cassie Sandsmark, Wonder Girl. She also has mentored UN representatives, world leaders, and other superheroes (and, it could be argued, some of her interactions with the gods took on a mentor-like role).
2 Batman Is The World’s Greatest Detective And Passed Along His Knowledge
Batman is among DC’s smartest heroes. He is known as the World’s Greatest Detective – a title that he has earned many times over. Batman is also one of the world experts in weapons designs, mechanical engineering, psychology, and at least a dozen other fields. He has synthesized cures to multiple strains of both Joker Venom and Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin, speaks multiple languages, has built numerous Batsuits, hacked government mainframes, and constructed other Bat-themed paramilitary gadgets with cutting-edge technology.
And he’s somehow found time to mentor many young sidekicks – five Robins, three Batgirls, and the young hero Signal are among those who he has trained in canon continuity (though it should be noted that one hero, Stephanie Brown, was both a Robin and Batgirl).
1 Mister Terrific Is One Of The World’s Smartest Heroes And Mentored Younger JSA Heroes
Think Batman’s smart? Mister Terrific is to Batman’s mind what Superman is to Batman’s muscles. Mister Terrific is best known for developing his iconic T-spheres, floating intelligent orbs that move on their own and have numerous defensive, hacking, holographic, and communications capabilities. He has fourteen Ph.Ds, speaks numerous languages, and once even taught himself an alien language while investigating war crimes off-planet. Oh, and he’s an Olympic gold medalist.
To be clear, this all refers to the second Mister Terrific, Michael Holt. Holt joined the Justice Society, DC’s oldest superhero team, honoring the legacy of the original Mister Terrific. While on the team, Michael Holt mentored many other younger legacy heroes and had more than a thing or two to teach the old-timers still on the team, despite their years of experience.
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