The Future Foundation was originally established by the Fantastic Four's Reed Richards. Reed was discouraged by the state of Earth's scientists. He believed the way they applied their science only caused more problems. So he ultimately decided to leave the Singularity Conference and put together his own team. The Future Foundation was born, as Reed brought together a number of bright, young individuals he hoped to mold.
A number of intelligent and superpowered characters have been members of the Future Foundation. The original team was mostly youngsters. However, after Johnny Storm died at the hands of Annihilus, the Fantastic Four operated solely under the Foundation's name. We're looking at some of the smartest characters ever to count themselves among the Future Foundation.
10 Jennifer Walters
Jennifer became She-Hulk after her cousin Bruce Banner gave her an emergency blood transfusion. But before she was a mean, green, fighting machine, she was a skilled lawyer with a degree from UCLA. In her initial appearances, her She-Hulk form made her slow and savage, but over time She-Hulk came to retain Jennifer's level of intelligence.
She was asked to join the Future Foundation when the original Fantastic Four were planning a trip through time and space. They wanted replacements on hand in case something were to happen to the team. Jennifer was brought in as The Thing's replacement and, wouldn't you know it, the Fantastic Four did indeed get lost.
9 Franklin Richards
The oldest child of Reed and Susan Richards, Franklin may not be the smartest character on this list, but he's likely one of the most powerful. When Franklin was born, there were complications from the cosmic radiation that gave his parents their powers. He was born a mutant and, unlike most mutants, manifested his powers when he was just a toddler.
The Celestials have classified his ability as "Beyond Omega Classification." He had to employ power dampers as a child to control his power, but as an adult has vast telepathic and telekinetic ability and the ability to rearrange the molecular structure of matter. He can even create whole pocket universes.
8 Arthur Maddicks
The son of Dr. Carl Maddicks, "Artie" is a mutant who formerly had energy projection powers. Unfortunately, his mutation also severely disfigured him, including rendering him mute. Then, just to really grind salt into the wound, after M-day, Artie lost his projection ability without losing any of his physical mutations. Artie's still young and doesn't have many credits to his name yet. But he's still ranked as "gifted" and is one of the young members the Future Foundation hopes to educate.
7 Scott Lang
Scott came by the Ant-Man suit through less-than-official means, stealing it from Hank Pym in order to find a way to pay for his daughter's heart surgery. However, after witnessing Scott use the suit for good, Pym offered to let him keep it. Even outside the scope of the Foundation, Scott's quite accomplished. He has a Master's degree in electrical engineering and has the ability to infiltrate even highly advanced security systems.
Scott joined the Future Foundation around the same time Jennifer Walters did. He was brought in as Reed's replacement when the Fantastic Four were forced to visit another universe to stop the decay of their abilities. Scott led the team until Reed and the others returned, at which point he decided to leave.
6 Peter Parker
All right, we all know who Spider-Man is. We've seen his origin story three different times on the big screen alone. Most people are probably also aware of how intelligent he is. The only reason this web-slinger has web to sling is because he developed the webbing material himself. Not to mention in most depictions, he managed to do it with very few resources, due to the fact of him being dirt poor.
Peter joined the Future Foundation to honor the memory of Johnny Storm. When he died, his final request to Peter was that he join Johnny's teammates and help them fight. Alongside the other members of the Fantastic Four, Peter helped fend off the Sinister Six, as well as an interdimensional version of Reed Richards.
5 Bentley Twenty-Three
Another young member of the Foundation, Bentley Twenty-Three is a clone of Bentley Wittman, also know as The Wizard. The Wizard possessed a superhuman-level genius intellect and devised the clones as a way to take down Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four. When the Wizard and his clones were defeated, the only clone shown to be still alive was Twenty-Three. Reed adopted him and treated him like his own son. While Bentley hasn't yet made a name for himself, he's sure to have inherited his father's genius, and only time will tell what he'll do with it.
4 Nathaniel Richards
Reed Richards' father Nathaniel was a brilliant scientist in his own right. It was due to his encouragement that Reed had a love of science and discovery growing up. In addition to his super-genius intelligence, he was present at the death of a quantum-powered superhuman. This gave Nathaniel the ability to travel through time. He was forced to spend many years on the run, but returned just after the death of Johnny Storm. Nathaniel intended to help the Foundation. using his knowledge of the future.
One of his accomplishments was constructing an interdimensional portal in order to send an alternate Reed Richards back to his own universe. This failed when the Mad Celestials attacked. Nathaniel also managed to bring future versions of Reed's children to the present in order to heal Galactus, thereby saving the day.
3 Victor von Doom
Doctor Doom is regarded as one of the smartest characters in the entire Marvel canon. He has developed many incredible devices, including a time machine and machines that can imbue individuals with superpowers. He's also never stopped developing his other abilities, and he is also an accomplished sorcerer and psionic.
Doom joined the Future Foundation on one condition: He made Reed promise to restore the intelligence he'd lost to the super-villain group Intelligencia after he'd betrayed them. He was among those helping Nathaniel Richards and Reed-Alpha construct the interdimensional portal. Even after he was freed and had the chance to escape, Doom stayed to defend Latveria and, at the time, seemed to perish.
2 Reed Richards
Reed Richards isn't just one of the founding members of the Future Foundation, but he's also one of the smartest beings on the planet. He's a mastery of many fields, including physics, mechanical engineering, and alien biology. His numerous scientific breakthroughs including robotics, biochemistry, and space, time, and extradimensional travel. His body is also highly plastic after coming in contact with cosmic radiation.
Reed prefers to negotiate rather than fight. When the remnants of the Interdimensional Council of Reeds tried to blow up the planet, Reed made alliances with many villains in an attempt to stop them. Reed later established a new headquarters for the Future Foundation to continue even after the Fantastic Four reformed.
1 Valeria Richards
The second child of Reed and Susan Richards, Valeria is one of only a few people smarter than her dad. In fact, she was probably smarter than him at only two years old. She solved a Rubik's Cube when she was a toddler. She's a young member of the Future Foundation, but a version of her from the future was instrumental in saving the world from the Mad Celestials. She'll almost certainly come to match or surpass her father as she matures.