What is Reed Richards’ IQ?
Degrees, inventions and costly decisions are all documented for Reed Richards. The 267 people attach to him is traced, where it is traced at all, to someone else.
No page we could read traces the IQ of Reed Richards, the main-continuity character, to a Marvel comic, and no test result exists. The 267 that circulates has no source for him, the “616” in “reed richards iq 616” is Earth-616, the continuity itself, not a score, and this site’s estimated IQ range for Mister Fantastic as written is 190–210.
Reed Richards’ estimated IQ
- Wikipedia’s account of the comics has him taking college-level courses at 14, holding several science degrees by 20 and earning doctorates in physics and electrical engineering by 22; it lists his doctorates as spanning mathematics, physics and engineering.
- The same article credits him with breakthroughs in space travel, time and dimensional travel, robotics, computing, polymers, holography and energy production, and puts a spacecraft of his in Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961).
- The Negative Zone, a parallel universe of negatively charged matter, first appears in Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966), and in Civil War (2006–2007) Reed helped design a prison there.
- BusinessWeek’s “The Smartest Superheroes” (Joseph Pisani, June 1, 2006) listed him among the ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics, and Wikipedia’s lead says he is officially acknowledged as the smartest man alive within the Marvel Universe, citing a Marvel.com list of November 27, 2018.
- The limits are written in: Wikipedia’s summary has him conceding that Doctor Octopus knows more about radiation and Hank Pym more about biochemistry, and treating magic as a gap that Doctor Strange has to teach him to fill.
This range rates a portrayal, not a person: Reed is as smart as each writer needs him to be, and Screen Rant’s October 2022 critique argues that writers routinely cap his genius so he cannot solve every plot. Reports of scores much above 160 are considered dubious even for real people, so a fictional range this high describes authorial intent, not a score.
- First appearance
- Fantastic Four #1, cover-dated November 1961
- Created by
- Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
- Role
- Leader of the Fantastic Four; scientist and inventor
- Born
- Central City, California, per the Marvel Directory profile
- Education
- College-level courses at 14; several science degrees by 20; multiple doctorates
- Family
- Married Susan Storm (Annual #3, 1965); son Franklin (Annual #6, 1968); daughter Valeria
- Continuity
- Earth-616, the main Marvel continuity; the Ultimate Reed Richards (Earth-1610) is a separate character
- Canonical IQ
- None found for the main-continuity character; 267 is tied to the Ultimate version at 16
What an IQ of 190–210 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
Average is 100 by construction, and about two-thirds of people fall between 85 and 115. Take the test to place your own score on this scale.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Who Reed Richards is
Reed Richards, who fights as Mister Fantastic, is a Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; he first appeared in Fantastic Four #1, cover-dated November 1961. He leads the Fantastic Four, whose base is the Baxter Building at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue in New York City (first shown in issue #3), and in Wikipedia’s account of the team he blames himself for the failed space mission behind its origin. He marries Susan Storm in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965), and their son Franklin is born in Annual #6 (1968). On screen he has been played by Ioan Gruffudd (2005, 2007), Miles Teller (2015), John Krasinski (2022, as a variant from another Earth) and Pedro Pascal in The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).
The in-story record is unusually specific about schooling. In Wikipedia’s account he is a child prodigy who takes college-level courses at 14, holds several science degrees by 20 and has doctorates in physics and electrical engineering by 22, with schools that include MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Columbia and the fictional Empire State University. The Marvel Directory profile agrees on the college-level courses at 14 and on multiple doctorates, gives his birthplace as Central City, California, and names no IQ. The Reed Richards IQ feats that matter for an estimate are the ones the stories show: breakthroughs credited across space travel, time and dimensional travel, robotics, computing, synthetic polymers, holography and energy production; unstable molecules, which Wikipedia’s articles list among his creations; a spacecraft in the first issue; and the Negative Zone, the parallel universe of negatively charged matter that first appears in Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966).
His mistakes are part of the record, and the stories dwell on their costs. As a founding member of the Illuminati, introduced in New Avengers #7 (July 2005) by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven, he belonged to the group that shot the Hulk into space, a decision that led directly to World War Hulk in 2007. In Civil War (July 2006 to February 2007) he took the pro-registration side, helped design a prison for dissenting heroes in the Negative Zone and, with Tony Stark, was involved in creating Ragnarok, a cyborg clone of Thor that killed Bill Foster. In Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers, from 2013, he led efforts to address multiversal threats in the storyline known as the incursions, which culminated in Secret Wars in 2015. A character written as his universe’s foremost scientist who can still be wrong on that scale is a good illustration of why smart people make bad decisions, and of why one number cannot summarize him.
The standard description is that he is, in Wikipedia’s wording, officially acknowledged as the smartest man alive within the Marvel Universe, a claim its lead sources to a Marvel.com list of the ten smartest super heroes (November 27, 2018). That is a rank inside a story, not a measurement like a genius IQ level, and it is contested even among Marvel’s own characters: a Screen Rant op-ed by Logan Silva argues that Professor X has overtaken him, and Comicbook.com (David Harth, June 4, 2025) lists Moon Girl, Doctor Doom and Thanos, along with several DC characters, as smarter. Placed against the fictional peers on this site, a range of 190–210 puts Reed near the top of the roster: a notch above Sherlock Holmes (180–200), overlapping Mycroft Holmes (185–205) and Rick Sanchez (195–215), and well clear of Victor Frankenstein (160–180), the other scientist-inventor here. The margin over Holmes comes from breadth, not from any stated figure.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed August 2026
Reed Richards: the documented record
The estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
- 1961Fantastic Four #1, cover-dated November 1961, introduces Reed Richards; Stan Lee writes and Jack Kirby draws.
- 1965Marries Susan Storm in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (July 1965).
- 1966The Negative Zone first appears in Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966).
- 2004Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 (February 2004) introduces the teenage Ultimate Reed, Earth-1610; issue #4 (May 2004) is the one Wikipedia cites for his IQ of at least 267 at 16.
- 2005The Illuminati, with Reed as a founding member, first appear in New Avengers #7 (July 2005).
- 2006BusinessWeek’s “The Smartest Superheroes” (June 1) lists him among the ten most intelligent fictional characters in American comics; Civil War begins in July, with Reed on the pro-registration side.
- 2007World War Hulk follows the Illuminati’s decision to shoot the Hulk into space.
- 2015Secret Wars culminates the incursions storyline from Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers; the Maker, the villain the Ultimate Reed became, turns on him.
- 2018Marvel.com publishes “10 Smartest Super Heroes” (November 27), the list Wikipedia cites for calling him officially the smartest man alive in the Marvel Universe.
- 2019–2022CBR (August 8, 2019) ties the 267 to the Ultimate Reed at 16; Screen Rant (October 18, 2022) states it for Reed with no source.
Where the 267 figure came from
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
Reed Richards’s IQ is not a number that any page we could read traces to a Marvel comic about the main-continuity character. The figure that circulates is 267, and it appears on aggregator pages and in Screen Rant articles with no citation attached. check-iq.org prints it under a “Medium Confidence Level” and lists Marvel, Fandom and Screen Rant as its sources; sociosite.net calls it an estimate “discussed by writers and fans”; and Screen Rant repeats it in an October 2022 article and again in a later op-ed without a source. None names an issue, a handbook entry or a test.
The only place a source is attached to 267 is a different Reed. CBR (Sid Natividad, August 8, 2019) says 267 is the IQ of the Ultimate Reed Richards of Earth-1610, “measured” when he was 16, and Wikipedia’s article on the Maker, the villain that Ultimate Reed became, describes him as a genius with an IQ of at least 267 at 16 and cites Ultimate Fantastic Four #4 (May 2004). Ultimate Marvel was a reinvention of the Marvel Universe for the modern age, launched with Ultimate Spider-Man in 2000, and that teenager first appears in Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 (February 2004), so he is a separate character from the Reed Richards who debuted in Fantastic Four #1 in 1961. We could not open the issue itself. The pages that hand 267 to the 1961 Reed skip that step.
The “616” in searches such as “reed richards iq 616” is not a score either. Earth-616 is the designation for the main Marvel continuity, first used in Alan Moore’s 1983 Captain Britain story in Marvel UK’s Daredevils #7, so the search is really asking about the mainstream Reed, the version for whom no page we read gives a sourced number. As for 267 itself, on the usual scale (mean 100, standard deviation 15) it lies more than eleven standard deviations above average, far outside any norm sample, and Wikipedia notes that reports of scores much higher than 160 are considered dubious. Our note on the IQ ceiling effect covers why tests cannot separate people that high, and for the general pattern see where celebrity IQ numbers come from.
The versus queries fail for the same reason. The two aggregator pages that give Reed 267 also print Tony Stark at 270 and Batman at 192, with no issue or test cited for either, so the Reed Richards IQ vs Tony Stark question is a three-point gap between two numbers with nothing behind them; CBR, meanwhile, says Tony’s IQ is still “a big mystery.” The Reed Richards IQ vs Batman question is emptier still: Batman belongs to another publisher’s universe, so the two share no canon, no test and no scale, and whichever writer stages a crossover decides who comes out ahead. A fair comparison stays inside one universe and rests on what the stories show. CBR scores eleven categories and gives Reed seven to Iron Man’s two, with one tie. Screen Rant reads Iron Man #16, in which Reed says he thinks he just got dumber after Tony shares his intellect with everyone nearby, as a point for Reed, and Invincible Iron Man #4 (2008), in which Tony blames Reed’s edge on his stretching brain and then checkmates him in several chess games at once, as a point for Tony. Each is a writer’s choice.
How we read a number →Mister Fantastic: created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, debut Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961); college-level courses at 14, several science degrees by 20, doctorates; a summary of his inventions and of the limits of his expertise; marriage in Annual #3 (July 1965); the film casting. The lead attributes “officially acknowledged as the smartest man alive within the Marvel Universe” to Marvel.com’s “10 Smartest Super Heroes” (November 27, 2018) and the ten-most-intelligent ranking to Joseph Pisani’s “The Smartest Superheroes” (Bloomberg, June 1, 2006). No IQ figure appears in the article. Fantastic Four: the Baxter Building at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, first shown in issue #3; Annual #6 (1968). Illuminati: New Avengers #7 (July 2005), the decision to shoot the Hulk into space and World War Hulk (2007), the incursions storyline from 2013 to Secret Wars (2015). Negative Zone: Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966). Civil War: July 2006 to February 2007, Reed’s pro-registration side, the Negative Zone prison, Ragnarok.
Maker: the Ultimate Reed Richards first appears in Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 (February 2004); the article says he possessed an IQ of 267 and that he was a genius with an IQ of at least 267 at 16, citing Ultimate Fantastic Four #4 (May 2004) for the second statement; the Maker identity debuts in Ultimate Fallout #4 (August 2011). Multiverse: Earth-616 is the main Marvel continuity, first used in Alan Moore’s 1983 Captain Britain story in Marvel UK’s Daredevils #7; Earth-1610 is the original Ultimate universe, launched with Ultimate Spider-Man in 2000.
Scores are scaled to a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15 against a norming sample; reports of scores much higher than 160 are considered dubious; about 2 percent of people score above 130.
States that the Ultimate Reed Richards of Earth-1610 had an IQ measured at 267 at 16, says Tony Stark’s IQ remains a big mystery, and scores eleven categories (Reed seven, Tony two, one tie). Names no issue numbers.
McGuire cites Iron Man #16 (Christopher Cantwell) for Reed saying he just became dumber when Tony shares his intellect. Isaak states Reed’s IQ as 267 with no source, attributes a “level twelve intellect” remark to Tony Stark and argues that writers limit Reed’s genius. J.A.M. cites Invincible Iron Man (2008) #4 (Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca): Tony’s stretching-brain theory and the chess games. Silva repeats 18 doctorates and an IQ of 267 with no source and argues that Professor X has overtaken Reed.
Lists Moon Girl, Metron, Brainiac 5, Brainiac, Thanos, Lex Luthor and Doctor Doom as smarter. Applies “twelfth level intellect” to DC’s Brainiac 5 as the top of that scale, a near-identical phrase to the one Screen Rant and sociosite.net attach to a Tony Stark remark about Reed; we could not trace that remark to an issue.
Gives 267 under a “Medium Confidence Level” and lists Marvel, Fandom and Screen Rant as sources without naming an issue, test, date or author. Also prints 18-plus doctorates by 30, Tony Stark 270 and Batman 192.
Gives 267 with no source and a disclaimer that it is an estimate discussed by writers and fans, not a measured score; prints Tony Stark 270 and Batman 192 and attributes a “Level Twelve Intellect” remark to Tony Stark.
Born in Central City, California; college-level courses by 14; Caltech, Columbia, Harvard and a state university in Hegeman, New York; multiple doctorates, fields not listed. No IQ figure, no intelligence rating and no source note on the page.
Checked: Wikipedia’s Mister Fantastic article, the Marvel Directory profile and the articles above. None traces an IQ for that character to a comic, and no page checked gives 616 as anyone’s IQ. Marvel.com and Comic Vine refused our requests (HTTP 403), so the finding covers only what we could read.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Reed Richards, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
An IQ of 267 is printed for Reed Richards by check-iq.org (under a “Medium Confidence Level”), by sociosite.net (as an estimate “discussed by writers and fans”) and in Screen Rant pieces from October 2022 and a later op-ed. The two aggregator pages also give Tony Stark 270 and Batman 192. Searches add “616”, which is not a score.
No page we could read traces an IQ score for the main-continuity Reed Richards to a Marvel comic. Wikipedia’s article on Mister Fantastic does not mention IQ, and neither does the Marvel Directory profile, which lists his schools and multiple doctorates but no intelligence figure. Where 267 has a source, it is the Ultimate Reed Richards of Earth-1610: CBR (August 8, 2019) says his IQ was measured at 267 at 16, and Wikipedia’s article on the Maker cites Ultimate Fantastic Four #4 (May 2004). No page checked states 616 as anyone’s IQ. Marvel.com’s character pages could not be opened (HTTP 403), so this covers the sources we could read.
The circulating 267 sits 57 points above the top of this range. On the usual scale, with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, it would be more than eleven standard deviations above average, a place no norm sample reaches and no test has items to measure. As on most profiles here, the documented record supports a lower figure than the one that circulates.
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
Reed Richards — frequently asked
What is Reed Richards’s IQ?
Reed Richards has no IQ that any page we could read traces to a Marvel comic; this site’s estimate for the character as written is 190–210. The 267 that circulates is tied by CBR and Wikipedia to the Ultimate universe’s teenage Reed, not the 1961 character, and no test result exists for either.
Where does the Reed Richards IQ of 267 come from?
Where 267 has a source, it belongs to the Ultimate universe’s Reed Richards (Earth-1610): CBR says his IQ was measured at 267 at 16, and Wikipedia’s article on the Maker cites Ultimate Fantastic Four #4 (May 2004). Pages that apply it to the main Reed, including check-iq.org, sociosite.net and Screen Rant, cite no issue or test.
What does “Reed Richards IQ 616” mean?
It is not a score. Earth-616 is the designation for Marvel’s main continuity, so the search is asking about the mainstream Reed Richards rather than the Ultimate version. No page we checked states 616 as an IQ; the number that circulates for him is 267, and it has no source for the main character.
What are Reed Richards’s IQ feats in the comics?
The comics credit Reed with several science doctorates, a spacecraft in Fantastic Four #1, dimensional and time-travel devices, and the Negative Zone, which first appears in issue #51 (June 1966). These are feats of writing, not test results, and his costly decisions, such as the Hulk’s exile, are in the record too.
Reed Richards IQ vs Tony Stark: who is smarter?
No sourced number settles it. Sites that print IQs give Reed 267 and Tony 270 without citing an issue or test, while CBR calls Tony’s IQ a mystery and scores Reed ahead in seven of eleven categories. Screen Rant’s readings of Iron Man #16 and Invincible Iron Man #4 point in opposite directions.
Reed Richards IQ vs Batman: who is smarter?
There is no shared scale. Batman belongs to DC and Reed to Marvel, so the two share no canon and no test, and sites that print numbers put Reed at 267 and Batman at 192 without citing an issue or test. Whichever writer stages a crossover decides who comes out ahead.
How smart is Mr. Fantastic?
He is written as one of Marvel’s most intelligent characters, with several science doctorates and inventions across many fields, and Wikipedia says he is officially acknowledged as the smartest man alive within the Marvel Universe. This site’s estimate of 190–210 puts him a notch above Sherlock Holmes’s 180–200, but it rates a portrayal, not a person.
How does my IQ compare with Reed Richards?
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
Where does this estimate come from?
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other fictional profiles, starting with Sherlock Holmes.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More fictional profiles — same field, same method
More fictional
Frontispiece by Theodor von Holst for the 1831 edition, public domain. · Print attributed to Jérôme David, after Rembrandt van Rijn, published by François Langlois. Rijksmuseum (object RP-P-OB-63.789), CC0. · Photograph of a cosplayer as Light Yagami by Farhan Ahmad Tajuddin (2017), CC BY 2.0. Cropped; background removed for the portrait above. The character is the creation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.
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