WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #768 by Jeremy Adams, Brandon Peterson, Marco Santucci, David Lafuente, Mike Atiyeh, Arif Prianto, Luis Guerrero, and Steve Wands, on sale now.
The DCU is filled with a number of super-geniuses, but some are more prominent than others. Besides standards like Lex Luthor, Batman and the Atom, one of the less celebrated geniuses is Mister Terrific. However, that Justice Society hero has quickly become the go-to genius of the DC Universe.
In The Flash #768, the Justice League call Michael Holt in to help them with a problem before calling in more regular League members like Batman. Notably, this isn't the first instance of major players going to Mister Terrific for help with problems they can't solve. Holt was even tasked with solving the mystery of Adam Strange's time fighting on Rann in Strange Adventures.
When Wally West was pulled away by the Speed Force, Barry Allen made it his personal mission to make sure his former protégé was not lost again. But he knew that to find Wally quickly he would need a lot more than just himself. That's where Mister Terrific came in. As one of the world's greatest minds, Holt's vast stores of knowledge on pretty much everything meant he could offer a fresh perspective on solving the problem of Wally's time displacement.
He certainly seemed eager to start too, ready to sink his teeth into a brand new problem of a magnitude worthy of his intellect. And despite having no prior experience working closely with the Speed Force, Mister Terrific quickly helped Barry find a way to successfully communicate with Wally and keep track of where the missing Flash was. And he did it all in the span of a few minutes. And this isn't the first time a Justice Leaguer has called in Holt to help with delicate situations that required a sharp mind.
In Strange Adventures by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Evan Shaner, when Adam Strange was accused of murder, he asked Batman to investigate, trusting that the World's Greatest Detective would be able to prove his innocence. Batman, however, was less than certain he was up to the task. In a surprising admission of his limitations, he explained that he was far too close to Adam personally to properly investigate him. Admittedly this seems out of place, if Batman did suspect one of his fellow heroes of committing a violent murder than he would have thrown the book at them to find the truth. But his surprising emotional awareness aside, Batman did recognize that the case needed to be taken over by someone up to the task.
He turned to the one man he believed capable of finding the truth: Mister Terrific. Aside from being a genius, Michael Holt had two things that made him perfect for the job. Firstly, he had no prior interaction with Adam Strange. The two are, funnily enough, strangers to one another. This meant Holt would have an unbiased view of Strange and be able to see things from a perspective that Batman could not. And much more importantly, Holt is a fair man. He metes out justice as it is deserved, willing to give others the benefit of the doubt and can be as tough as Batman.
And his encyclopedic knowledge of anything and everything gives him an edge over his fellow geniuses. Usually, they have specializations, such as Batman's expertise with detective work, robotics, forensics and chemistry or the various specialties of DC's various scientist heroes. But Mister Terrific has a more broad knowledge that can surpass Batman's limits because it touches upon fields people like him might not consider relevant to a situation.
Even if Strange Adventures isn't firmly in continuity, the fact that Mister Terrific has been asked by two members of the Justice League shows just how much they respect his abilities. If two Justice Leaguers across different realities would go to Mister Terrific before Batman, then it's proof of their faith in him. The Justice League can't solve everything every time, but Mister Terrific might have the answers they need as they head into the Infinite Frontier.