Another Top 10 Movie Geniuses

Sometimes superior intelligence comes with an ego - and CEO Nathan Bateman has both in spades. In his isolated lab, he’s created an artificial brain using information from his search engine, Blue Book, to map how people think. As programmer Caleb suggests, this means that in a sense Nathan has become a god - and it shows, in Nathan’s dismissive treatment of Ava and his android servant Kyoko. And as Caleb soon learns, Nathan’s genius extends beyond tech; he’s also a master manipulator . . . and a pretty ballsy dancer.

There’s a common belief that intellect doesn’t translate to practical skills, but this isn’t always the case. After the sudden death of her daughter, biomedical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone buries herself in her work, inventing a scanning device for hospitals that NASA decides could also be used for the Hubble Space Telescope. When disaster strikes during the installation, Stone has to turn her quick thinking toward survival. Inexperienced and alone, Stone is nonetheless able to improvise creative solutions to unexpected problems in order to return to Earth.

Frank Walker first demonstrates his ingenuity as a young boy when he builds a jetpack. Although the son of a farmer in the rural American Midwest, he’s been inspired by mail-order science and science fiction magazines to dream big. Sure, his first invention has some kinks . . . but these are soon smoothed out. As an adult, Frank invents a tachyon machine that shows images from the past and future - which soon proves to be more of a curse than a blessing. Kicked out of Tomorrowland, he nonetheless manages to create some pretty nifty booby traps and the means for a quick getaway. Hey, you never know when you might need a rocket bathtub.

Geniuses aren’t always forces for good in the world, at least not at first; supervillain Felonius Gru comes from a long line of baddies and has a remarkable talent for dastardly plots. Who else but a genius would think of stealing the Moon? Like Frank Walker, his talent manifested at an early age, when he built a working rocket. Now Dr. Nefario and the Minions take care of most of the grunt work, but Gru is still pretty good at devising devious plans while also raising three adopted daughters.

As a child, Murph Cooper is encouraged to question what she’s taught, even in a world where facts and history have lost importance. After her father’s departure, Murph becomes embittered, but remains driven to unravel the mysteries of the unknown. With the planet running out of resources, she works with Professor John Brand - the father of another talented scientist, Amelia Brand - on a gravitational theory of propulsion that could relocate Earth’s population. With her father’s help, her efforts enable the human race to escape into space.

When introverted banker Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, he sticks out like a sore thumb, becoming the frequent victim of prison bullies. But patience, intelligence, and determination make for a powerful combination. Using his expertise in finance, he soon makes himself invaluable to the warden, and eventually escapes through a tunnel dug in secret over 19 years. Having laundered money for the corrupt warden, he’s also able to make off with a small fortune and win a measure of justice all at once.

Seth Brundle might be too smart for his own good. An expert in molecular physics, he’s invented a teleportation machine for instantaneous travel. The only problem is that it turns living test subjects inside out. But inspiration and progress can come from unexpected sources. Shy, eccentric, and socially isolated, Brundle experiences a sexual awakening after sleeping with journalist Veronica Quaife, which inspires him to reprogram the telepods to creatively reproduce living tissue. It works, but the telepods are a little too creative - leading to problematic experimental results.

This scientist discovers the secret of life, but in so doing creates a monster. As in Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel of the same name, the movie adaptation follows Frankenstein’s ambitious project to create human life. Sure, it might seem crazy to us now: stitch together some body parts dug up from the local graveyard and shoot them full of lightning. But it works . . . until the misunderstood monster escapes and goes on the run. The moral of the story: don’t meddle with forces you don’t understand.

Hannibal Lecter exemplifies genius at its darkest. This cannibalistic serial killer is a former forensic psychiatrist gifted at dissecting people’s psyches . . . as well as the rest of them. His ability to understand and manipulate the people around him is uncanny, and eventually allows him to escape his cell. In the sequels to the Thomas Harris novel on which this movie is based, it’s detailed that Lecter spends much of his time wandering through elaborate memory palaces in his own mind. Lecter’s exceptional intelligence makes him particularly fascinating, and particularly dangerous.

Before we reveal the identity of our top pick, here are some honorable mentions:
- Milo James Thatch

“Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (2001)



- Megamind

“Megamind” (2010)



- Rich Purnell

“The Martian” (2015)

He came up with the flux capacitor when he fell off the toilet - and in so doing invented time travel. How many of us have had ideas that begin on the bathroom floor? Emmett “Doc” Brown is dedicated enough to scientific progress to steal plutonium from terrorists, but also able to improvise in a pinch, like when he uses lightning to return Marty to the present. With his wild hair, offbeat mannerisms, and absent-minded nature, he’s the classic eccentric movie mad scientist figure we know and love.