Spoilers Superman Spoiler Thread

[Thomas Shey]

I think you're understating it. You can't outsmart the clone without outsmarting the operator, and I am not convinced that the clone is operated by voice-activation for any other reason besides Lex wanted the most direct way to vicariously beat the crap out of Supes. That's absolutely Superman being clever and changing the rules of the game.

Though, does Ultra Man ever speak in the whole movie?

 

[Morrus]

I think you're understating it.

I know.

 

[Morrus]

Though, does Ultra Man ever speak in the whole movie?

There’s a point in the early fight where Lex says “your 6 o’clockas Supes comes back and the clone replies “copy that” or something like that.

 

[Staffan]

Well, it doesn't help that it isn't in any way consistent across different takes. The Man of Tomorrow take you've seen in some cases, including a lot of the Silver Age that was absolutely true (Kal was shown doing science in the Fortress on occasion, and was even referred to as having "super-intelligence"; he was the son of a very capable scientist (and in some later versions, two). On the other hand, he's often depicted as a fairly smart ordinary man, but not necessarily more than, or even as much as, Lois.

So you can swing either way on that one. I've got to say I'm not sure he's very often depicted as smarter than Lex, though.

I would reckon that he probably has a fair bit of knowledge about Kryptonian science by way of the Fortress, but that doesn't necessarily translate to knowledge of Terran science/technology. He can build/repair the robots in the Fortress, but that doesn't mean he knows how to change a hard drive. Stone knives and bear skins, as it were.

My preferred understanding of Superman's intelligence is that he probably has a very strong ability for raw data processing and memory and things like that, along with an understanding of super-high technology, but he lacks the brilliance of someone like Lex or Bruce that would let him draw creative conclusions or invent things. But Superman is a character that's been around for nearly a century by now, with dozens of different writers and various Elseverses and so on. There are a lot of different takes on him.

 

[Tonguez]

I'd say that within the DC Heroes Supermans intelligence is high end of top 10, but not top 5. He is not as intelligent as Luthor, Batman, Mr Terrific or Ray Palmer, but maybe on par with Cyborg but without the specialist knowledge.
Moreover Superman has focussed on Social intelligence as an investigative report rather than scientist or tactician (thats Batmans shtick). Nonetheless has eidetic memory, learns quickly and can usually figure things out.

 

[chuckdee]

So you can swing either way on that one. I've got to say I'm not sure he's very often depicted as smarter than Lex, though.

I didn't say smarter- just very intelligent. Which given Lex's arrogance, lets him get around him on his playing field, which drives him crazy. Gives a Doom vs Reed vibe in those cases.