Brainiac 5

© DC Comics / Used without permission

Origin: Unearthly
Real Name: Querl Dox
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #303 [DC Comics December 1962]
                            Character created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney

ABILITIES

Prowess 2 {Poor}
Coordination 3 {Average}
Strength 3 {Average}
Intellect 8 {Amazing}
Awareness 6 {Great}
Willpower 7 {Incredible}

Stamina: 10
Determination: 3

SPECIALTIES

Science Master
Technology Expert

POWERS

Gadgets 8 {Amazing}
       Arsenal [Belt: Force Field]
      

EQUIPMENT

Legion Flight Ring

QUALITIES 

. Eidetic Memory (Perfect recalls everything he's experienced).
. Condescending towards and often dismissive of people of lesser intellect.
. Seeks to redeem Brainiac's name and atone for actions of villains to bear the name. 

Points: 42

ORIGIN STORY

Querl Dox is brilliant and heroic, but not without flaws. His staggering intellect makes him condescending to those less intelligent. He rarely explains his plans and strategies believing people wouldn’t understand them anyway. He rejects sentimentality and emotional reactions that interfere with “proper” courses of action. He isn’t a machine, but he can seem cold and even at the best of times he can be hard to relate to.

Querl Dox traces his lineage to Vril Dox, the adopted heir of the villainous original Brainiac. He is a Coluan, a race of greenskinned alien geniuses possessing “eighth level intellects.” Querl is the smartest of his race, possessing a “twelfth level intellect.” Querl joined the Legion of Super-Heroes early in the group’s history, taking the name Brainiac 5. He is their foremost inventor and scientist. For example, he invented the Legion’s famous flight rings, which he perfected from designs by Lyle Norg (Invisible Kid). He invented the Time Bubble, which became the primary mode of time travel for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 is also responsible for accidentally spawning scientific menaces like the murderous Computo, a supercomputer who killed one of fellow Legionnaire Triad’s three selves. Despite such tragedies, Querl Dox is driven to use his intellect to aid others and redeem the name of Brainiac both from his own failures and the villainy of his namesake.

Brainiac 5 is the greatest genius of the 31st Century, possessing a Twelfth Level Intellect, which grants him superhuman calculation skills, amazing memory and exceptional technical knowledge. He correlates data on unimaginable level! By comparison, 20th century Earth as a whole constitutes a Sixth Level Intellect, and most of his fellow Coluans have an Eighth Level Intellect. 31st century Earth as a whole is a Ninth Level Intellect. His incredible memory allows him to retain knowledge of events that all other characters forget.

Brainiac 5 was shown in several comic book issues to be able to ponder twelve lines of thought simultaneously. When a renegade Titanian telepath read his mind, she discovered that his subconscious — usually the more active and chaotic part of the mind — was less active than his twelve simultaneous conscious thoughts. He is an expert in countless scientific disciplines and capable of rapidly processing incredible amounts of information. He often runs multiple projects, scenarios, and equations through his head simultaneously. He is a living supercomputer and the ultimate multi-tasker.

Another favourite of mine, the first comic book hero who I saw relying most exclusively on his Intellect - which is odd, considering the story of the medium and its fist-proned characters. Character revised according to rules presented in ICONS Great Power book. Streamlined, once again, according to ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying: The Assembled Edition.