Friday, May 28, 2010

Dangerous minds

For some time, I've been wanting to gather images of intellectual threats. My kids are very into superhero cartoons these days, and it's hard to ignore the number of arch villains whose identity is bound to intellect. This might be a sequel to last year's Lincolnpalooza...or maybe not. As someone who spends a lot of time in school, I'm curious about this whole smart and dangerous thing. Please suggest intelligent enemies in the comments, and enjoy....

Brainiac, from Justice League, wants to know about all things in the universe. His curiosity is consuming... planets.

The Brain, from Teen Titans - don't know what's up with him.

Who can forget Vincent Price, as Batman's nemesis - Egghead? "The World's Smartest Criminal", who seems to have fallen from between the lines of Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

I'm fairly sure this evil scientist is supposed to be Peter Lorre...a Frankenstein reference?

Syndrome wanted to use his brilliance to confer superpowers on everyone (after making himself rich and destroying Mr. Incredible)

Dr. Frankenstein is probably the archetypal evil genius - one whose pursuit of knowledge leads him beyond the pale of conventional ethics. Is that what people are afraid of?

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