There are a lot of really smart superheroes in comics. There are heroes like Captain America and Superman who are smarter than the average person, but they aren't geniuses. Then you have geniuses like Batman and Iron Man, who can create laser guns out of rocks, but they never actually finished their schooling. But some heroes went all the way with school. They didn't just stop at a degree or two, they wanted to get those three special letters; Ph.D.
These heroes put in the time and effort to get doctorates in their fields, giving them the right to be called "doctor," even if they never use it. Some received their doctorates in physics or other outer sciences, while others studied the mind and took the route of therapy and the human condition. Still, some went the whole ten yards and picked up a number of doctorates.
10 Mister Fantastic
While Reed Richards gets a lot of slack for having a big enough ego to call himself Mister Fantastic, the leader of the Fantastic Four is actually being quite modest. By the time he was eighteen, Reed had obtained doctorates in Engineering, Math, and Physics. It was while working on his fifth doctorate that Reed met Ben Grimm, Victor von Doom, and Susan Storm. Two of them would become very important members of Reed's family, the other - Victor - would become his greatest foe.
Even after building his own rocket ship and getting belted by cosmic radiation alongside his teammates, Reed continued to get doctorates. By the last count, the father figure of Marvel's First Family has eighteen doctorates.
9 Mister Terrific
Another hero with an egotistical name that is actually humble when you consider the man behind it is Mister Terrific. Before putting on a costume and joining the Justice Society, Michael Holt was an Olympic Gold Medalist with an IQ that would make Lex Luthor jealous.
Mister Terrific holds fourteen doctorates in Engineering, Physics, Law, Psychology, Chemistry, Political Science, and Mathematics. Not only does this make him one of the smartest heroes of the DC Universe, but it also makes him one of the few superheroes who can build a particle accelerator while giving a detailed lecture on the pros and cons of democracy.
8 Doctor Light
While the better known Doctor Light is the DC villain who was a nemesis of the Teen Titans and played a major role in Identity Crisis, there is also a hero who goes by that name. Kimiyo Hoshi was the supervising astronomer at an observatory in Japan who first saw the signs of the coming antimatter cloud that would destroy the Multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Because of this, the Monitor chose Kimiyo to be his champion and embued her with the power of photonics, turning her into Doctor Light. After the Crisis, Dr. Kimiyo continued her superhero career as Doctor Light and became a founding member of the new Justice League while still using her doctorate in Astronomy to explore the universe.
7 Dr. Mid-Nite
A skilled surgeon, Charles McNider, Ph.D. was operating on a witness who was set to testify against the vile gangster "Killer" Maroni when one of Maroni's men tossed a grenade into the operating room. The explosion killed everyone except for Dr. McNider, but the shattered glass that flew through the room embedded itself in his eyes, blinding him.
While he was recuperating in his home, Dr. McNider was startled when an owl crashed through his window late at night. Removing the bandages around his eyes, McNider realized that while he was blind if any lights were on, he could see perfectly in the dark. That night, Doctor Mid-Nite was born.
6 Doc Samson
Raised in a Jewish home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Leonard Skivorski, Jr. watched as his father, a successful psychiatrist, used his skills to sleep with his female patients. Leonard swore he would never follow in his father's footsteps but still became a psychiatrist himself. Wanting to distance himself from his father, and based on a nickname his wife gave him because of his long hair, Leonard changed his last name to Samson.
While working on an experiment alongside Dr. Bruce Banner - aka the Hulk - Doc Samson was infected with gamma radiation and gained powers himself. While Doc Samson will partake in superhero action from time to time, he mainly spends his time acting as a therapist for the other heroes.
5 Batgirl
The daughter of Jim Gordon - Gotham City's most famous cop - Barbara Gordon was clearly smarter than just about everyone else even from a young age. Along with strengthening her mind, Barbara's father wanted to make sure that her body was strong too. After all, they lived in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
Barbara finished high school at sixteen and graduated summa cum laude at Gotham State University at eighteen. She went on to get a doctorate in Library Science before choosing to spend her life fighting crime as Batgirl.
4 Black Panther
Best known for being the king of the secluded and technologically advanced African country of Wakanda, T'Challa made sure to get a complete education before becoming the Black Panther. T'Challa traveled to the United States and across Europe, attending the best schools in the world under the name "Luke Charles".
After receiving a Ph.D. in Physics from Oxford University, T'Challa returned to his home country to become part of the Royal Court. Not long after, T'Challa challenged his uncle S'Yan for the throne and, upon defeating his uncle, became the Black Panther.
3 The Atom
While Ivy University as a physics graduate student, Ray Palmer discovered a White Dwarf Star Fragment and used it to create a lens that, when used to focus ultraviolet light, could shrink anything down to a fraction of its original size. While spelunking with some friends, Ray, and his pals became trapped in a cave. Luckily, Ray had his White Dwarf Star Lens with him, which he used to shrink himself down and save everyone.
On that day, The Atom was born. While fighting crime as The Atom, Ray finished his studies and received a Ph.D. in Physics. Today he is one of the leading physicists in the DC Universe.
2 Doc Savage
Clark Savage, Sr. wanted his son to be the perfect human, and to make sure this happened he hired a team of scientists and athletes to train Clark Savage Jr. from birth. Sure enough, Clark Jr. became the perfect human specimen, with a genius intellect and the body of an Olympian.
Clark Jr. gained the name Doc Savage thanks to his many doctorates, but he is best known for his skills as a surgeon, explorer, and adventurer. These days, Doc Savage is best remembered as being the pulp hero who led the way for characters like Superman to become comic book stars.
1 Blue Beetle
Almost from birth, it was clear that Ted Kord was a genius. Everything seemed to come easy to Ted, leading him to receive degrees in Physics, English Literature, and Theoretical Mathematics al before he turned twenty. The only thing that stood in Ted's path to success was Ted himself. With everything being so easy for Ted, nothing really interested him. At least, not until Ted's archaeology teacher Dan Garrett revealed that he was the Blue Beetle, and that he wanted Ted to carry on the legacy.
While Ted Kord agreed to become the Blue Beetle, he chose not to use the magical scarab that Dan Garrett had, but instead rely on science. But before Ted gave superheroics his full attention, he managed to complete his doctorate in Theoretical Mathematics.