SomeTVshow protagonists build their whole personalities around being clever, andhonestly,it would be a nightmare to get into an intellectual dispute with many of them. When it comes to developing characters that are engaging enough to lead a TV show, they often need to have pronounced personalities. This may mean that they are skilled, charming, funny, or something else that helps them to stand out.
However, when a character’s central defining trait is their intelligence, it can go a number of ways. Some highly intelligent characters use it to charm the people they meet. Others find it mundane and frustrating to try and communicate with people they view as being less intelligent. Whatever the case, there are someTV show protagonistswho would be incredibly difficult to debate against.
8Patrick Jane
The Mentalist
First up, we have a con man. Patrick Jane is best known for his ability to read people and reach conclusions that can appear like he is reading minds. However, Patrick is actually justhighly skilled at analyzing people and micro-expressions. This led to Jane having a hugely successful career as a psychic.
Cast
The Mentalist is centered on a famous psychic, Patrick Jane, who reveals to the world that he is a fake to start working for the California Bureau of Investigation. But the motive for his new job is simply to find the man responsible for the death of his wife and daughter.
However, when his bravado and lying resulted in his family becoming the target of a dangerous killer, Jane was left broken and disillusioned by the value of his fame and fortune. Now, Jane assists the CBI as an expert consultant. Putting his incredible skills to good use,Jane is able to uncover dark secrets and reveal hidden details, which would make him a challenging rival in an intellectual showdown.
7Raymond Reddington
The Blacklist
While Jane is incredibly skilled at reading people, he is mostly harmless. The same cannot besaid for Raymond Reddington. Reddington is a notorious criminal who managed to evade capture for an extremely long time, and when he was finally caught, it was on his terms, as he walked into the FBI headquarters.Reddington is unpredictable and dangerous.
The Blacklist follows Raymond “Red” Reddington, a notorious fugitive, who shocks the FBI by surrendering and offering to help capture dangerous criminals. With a mysterious agenda, Reddington insists on working exclusively with rookie FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen, using his deep knowledge of an elusive criminal network.
Ultimately, this makes him an intimidating rival who would dismantle and disarm the people he is up against. In addition, his unpredictable nature may see him act in unusual ways that serve a higher purpose which will not be clear until it’s too late. Reddington, however, is just a drop in the bucket compared to some of the other entries in this list.
6The Doctor
Doctor Who
The Doctor is a very different character compared to the other entries in this list. For one, he isn’t even a human. However, over thousands of years, the Doctor has proven his fascination and obsession with the human race.
His wealth of knowledge, which extends into every corner of time and space, is absolutely overwhelming and impossible to match up against.
In all honesty, for most people, it would be a lot of fun to go toe-to-toe with the Doctor in a debate, buthis wealth of knowledge, which extends into every corner of time and space, is absolutely overwhelmingand impossible to match up against. The Doctor has also been responsible for the downfall and dismantling of some of the most terrifying and intelligent monsters ever known.
An alien from the planet Gallifrey travels through time and space to explore, solve problems and fight injustice while also making friends with human beings. His spaceship, called TARDIS, resembles a police box, but it is much more than it appears to be.
He is so intelligent, in fact, that he can fight against these rivals with nothing more than his own intellect and a sonic screwdriver. And yet, because of his jovial nature, he would still be a much more pleasant rival than many of the others further down this list.
5Sheldon Cooper
The Big Bang Theory
Case in point, Sheldon Cooper is not as intelligent as The Doctor. He is less threatening than both Raymond Reddington and Patrick Jane, but he is undeniably more annoying than all the others combined.Sheldon is highly intelligent, andhe is capable of dismantling arguments made by anyone who has a below genius-level IQ, but he is also sensitive, whiny, and childish.
The Big Bang Theory: This sitcom follows a group of socially awkward scientists and their interactions with each other and the people around them. Centered on physicists Sheldon and Leonard, the series humorously explores friendship, romance, and the quirks of life among an eclectic group of academics.
When Sheldon doesn’t have things play out exactly as he wants, it breaks him. In this way, it could be possible to mentally break Sheldon just by being unexpected, but the level of rage and frustration he would experience would likely lead to countless hours of exposition about why that’s not fair. Ultimately,competing with Sheldon would not be in any way fun, and that is why he earns his spot on the list.
4Hannibal Lecter
Hannibal
Next up,Hannibal Lecter is a terrifying man whose intelligence is impressive and intimidating. Hannibal is also a cannibal, and he frequently enjoys playing with his meals. Regardless of whether a rival is able to mentally match Hannibal, there is always the risk that he will tire of the games, and turn to bloody murder, before turning a body into a delicious fine-dining meal.
Created for TV by Bryan Fuller, Hannibal is a TV adaptation/reimagining of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon novel. The show follows the exploits of FBI criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and their perpetual game of cat and mouse that unfolds over the series. When a string of murders in Minnesota requires a brilliant mind to crack the case, Will Graham is called in to investigate - but due to the intimate and terrifying nature of the crimes, he is appointed Dr. Lecter to act as his psychiatrist. The truth of Dr. Lecter is that he is Will’s target - but to complicate matters, he’s the only person that can truly understand him.
But beyond that, Hannibal is also extremely intelligent, and capable of covering up his nefarious deeds. Hannibal builds trust, and positions himself in places where he gains authority, respect, and he becomes a trusted advisor. As a result, Hannibal may be able to utterly turn a person’s life on their head and cause an enduring disturbance through his dark actions.
3Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock
Combining some of the characteristics of individuals like Sheldon Cooper and Patrick Jane above,Sherlock Holmes is one of the most brilliant detectivesto ever live. He is also incredibly annoying, and struggles to connect with anyone on an emotional level. The result isa man obsessed with puzzles who will uncover any secret, no matter how minor, through his keen observational skills.
In this incarnation of Sherlock from creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman assume the roles of Sherlock and Watson as they establish their partnership and begin solving strange mysteries throughout the U.K. and beyond. Set in a more 2010’s modern setting, Sherlock’s eccentric and complex nature is accentuated as he solves seemingly supernatural crimes with unparalleled intellect while struggling to connect with others on a human level. Meanwhile, Watson blogs the stories summarizing their cases while building a strained but caring friendship with his new partner.
Sherlock has gone up against rivals like Jim Moriarty, and managed to solve countless crimes. He is more than capable of finding out what is going on even with a bare minimum of clues, and his impressive mind contains countless references and resources that make him skilled at figuring out near-endless problems. If Sherlock is your rival, there is almost no chance of escape, or victory.
2Dr. Gregory House
House
Dr. Gregory House is actually loosely modeled off of theSherlock Holmesstories by Arthur Conan Doyle. However, House is not a detective, but a medical practitioner. Despite this,the character is still utterly obsessed with solving puzzles, and he finds himself struggling to connect with and engage with people.
House is a medical mystery drama in which the villain is typically a difficult-to-diagnose medical malady. It follows Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), a world-renowned disabled diagnostician with a notorious substance abuse issue. With his team of world-class doctors, House has built a reputation as one of the most brilliant doctors in the world - an especially impressive feat when taking into account that he rarely actually sees his patients.
And while House is not necessarily as intelligent as Sherlock in a broad sense,his medical specialty makes him more of a threat. The thing is, House is a doctor, and as such, he has access to lethal chemicals and materials. In addition, despite taking the hippocratic oath to do no harm, House is more than willing to bend and break the rules. If put into the right circumstances, House would prove to be an untrustworthy, unpredictable, and dangerous rival.
1Rick Sanchez
Rick and Morty
Finally, the character taking the top spot may only exist within the bounds of an adult animated comedy show, butRick Sanchez is ridiculously intelligent, and in possession of near-endless potential. Rick is an inventor who single-handedly solved multiversal travel.He also has highly questionable morals, having killed many versions of himself in other realities, and making decisions that seem extremely toxic, cruel, or manipulative.
Rick is devastated by the tragic death of his wife, and he appears to care about almost nothing. This lack of care and empathy is exactly what makes him such an enormous threat. Rick has no issues with letting a universe die, and simply moving on to another reality.
Rick and Morty is an animated science fiction series that follows the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez and his impressionable grandson Morty Smith as they embark on perilous adventures across space and alternate dimensions. The show explores the impact of these exploits on Morty’s tumultuous family life and personal challenges.
And withhis ability to invent almost anything, travel the multiverse, and call in helpfrom strange and powerful entities from across the numerous realities, Rick Sanchez would prove to be an unrelenting and unforgiving rival. He chased one variant of himself across countless realities, and his punishments are extremely dark. By far, the most terrifying character to go up against from a TV show has to be the intellectual giant, Rick Sanchez.
