Marvel has such a huge stable of characters I don't think even they know who they have anymore.

Overmind makes Xavier look like a chump in terms of power and scope, but I'd doubt he'd get billing over Xavier on 'mightiest mentalists'.

Ah, but Prof X now has the infinity gem of the mind. I don't think he's used it yet.

He also can cheat, just cause whatever anyone around him knows, he can know. So, Xavier's kinda > everyone else. Cause he's a cheater.

If we're including ONLY goodguys, THIS list makes the most sense....otherwise, I'd go with this one

Reed Richard
MODOK
Dr. Doom
Magneto (I always thought Xavier was smarter. Oh well)
Mandarin
Hank Pym

There's one small problem with this: Morals. We've seen both Beast and Dark Beast who are both the same person but DB seems a wee bit smarter. Why? Because he's willing to go that extra mile that the Good version isnt. I think it's the same way. It's why Doom and T'Calla seem a bit more intelligent; They're just that more ruthless in thier goals. That and experience. I dont see Cho outdoing Stark, not just yet, but give the kid a few years and we might see him move up the charts. But then, they may just 'Peter Parker' or 'Franklin Richards'; him.

You're smarter if you lack morals now? I don't see it.

Your not smarter or more powerful if you lack morals, you do have more options though, and the way power works the person with the most options is generally seen as smarter or more powerful, barring anything else.

The problem with this equation is that it doesn't take into account collective insight. Dark Beast may seem smarter than Beast,. but Beast should actually accomplish more because of his ties to Reed, Stark, and the like all of whom benefit from his insight as they do his. Reed, Pym, and Stark Could each be individually dumber than Doom, but may not appear that way as well because of the collective insight they bring to each other, even if only occasionally.

Hence the smartest person should be the most ruthless person with the best collection of collective insight from others. OF course the whole Idea of a smartest person who's intelligence is purely individual is beyond ridiculous. But we are talking about a universe where a genetic alteration can cause matter to be created/destroyed instantaneously by a neural component, so why any of this has anything to do with anything is beyond me.

In Short, Cho is the seventh smartest person in the world because that's the way it's written.

You wouldn't mean the Overmind who got chumped by the Miracle Man do you? I'm just going by what the writers themselves say.

The Overmind who effortlessly and with no power assist contacted and took over every person on earth to fight Grandmaster.

I don't agree that lacking morals makes someone smarter. However, in the case of Amadeus, I really think he is kind of limited by how sappy and overconfident he is (Pet coyote, thinks he's friends with Hulk, thought he had a shot with an amazon). I think he can eventually move even further up the charts as writers move him further out of this dorky generic anime-style teen phase and flesh him out more.

The same could be said for Mastermind Excello since both can read minds. Admittedly, Excello has trouble controlling his ability since he was thawed out from suspended animation.

Reading minds wouldn't help. In one of the recent Thunderbolts issues, this scumbag telepath is trying to read Amadeus Cho's mind but can't understand any of it.

Totally agree with this logic, which is why I always put Doom first on these lists-

Doom and Reed are essentially equals, but my feeling is that Doom is in fact a little bit smarter than Reed, but Reed wins out because he's got the support network of the rest of the F4, as well as the greater hero community, while Doom generally just works alone. Doom's arrogance also often causes his downfall.

Impossible. Joe Q would never allow it unless it was to screw over Spider-man.