How smart is Shadow?

[MetalSkulkBane]

In Shonen the rival tends to be an intelligent tactician. Vegeta, Bakugo, Sasuke, Hiei. Even if their egos make them make stupid decisions, they are usually portrayed as great strategists when it comes to the battle itself.

That got me thinking, how does Shadow compare? I feel like most of the time his power alone is enough to solve most of his problems, plus he has a history of people playing with his head (Gerald, Black Doom, Mephiles and, let's face it, Rouge).

There are only 2 instances I can think that can imply above-average intellect.
1) Sonic X where he fought Scarship Metarex. He lost, but he used a strategy that most people wouldn't know of. Even Eggman has to explain it to the audience.

2) Whole SA2 where he's manipulating Eggman 3000 IQ himself. With that said, it's not his plan, he's just following the script Gerald gave him. So it's a bit open to interpretation how much credit he deserves.

And of course in IDW stories he tends to... make less than optimal decisions, to say lightly. One could argue it's not much different than Vegeta though.

[Ratchet25tx]

smart

It's not certain on how smart he is, but I'd say he's pretty cunning and can outsmart most people

[Maple Syrup]

He might be pretty smart, though not computer smart. I feel like he's very good with weapon knowledge and battle tactics, and is pretty skilled in science, because what do you do when you're bored on a science lab in space? 

Edited June 10 by Maple Syrup

[Diogenes]

The initial premise for Shadow is that he's Sonic's evil doppelganger, so he's intended to be as good or possibly better than him in basically every area. And they haven't backed off one bit on making him powerful, or tried to nerf him in any way, so I'd say that stands; he's intended to be at least as smart as Sonic, maybe more, since he's meant to be the serious one.

I find that boring, though. I prefer to think of him as being as dumb as Sonic, in his own way.

[Zaysho]

My mans karate chops keyboards to hack into things.

[MetalSkulkBane]

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

I find that boring, though. I prefer to think of him as being as dumb as Sonic, in his own way.

Now that I think about it, in IDW and Prime one hedgehog seems smarter than the other... but it doesn't match which one, despite both series being in the same canon.

Soooo, wish granted?

[Shade Vortex]

I'd definitely say Shadow is smarter than Sonic, HOWEVER, not by much, and it's mostly not very useful for him since his arrogance tends to hamper or completely overshadow his intelligence.

My main reasons for believing Shadow is smarter:

-He knows how to use Government technology and was qualified to be a secret government agent.

-He's been tricked far less and for far more justifiable reasons than any other member of the Sonic series. His memories themselves are likely tampered or faked, so he can't even be sure that what he DOES know is true, so you have to commend him for sticking true to the convictions he has when they could be completely fabricated. I think while Sonic's care-free attitude would give him a similar resolution if faced with the same problem, fact is that Sonic's been tricked in some really stupid ways that never should have worked (by Mephiles, and even especially by Eggman).

-While Sonic knows how to fly a plane, I really doubt that he'd know how to most other drive vehicles (especially since he has no need to), while Shadow definitely knows how to use vehicles, weapons and other technology, regardless if he needs to or not.

-Shadow knew to immediately trust Omega despite him being one of Eggman's robots. Despite Sonic's generally good nature, he had to famously be stopped by Amy from fighting Gamma, and had to be convinced that one of Eggman's robots could be trusted. Shadow is more willing to give people the benefit of a doubt if there's no clear reason to not trust them (I know this seems contradictory from the 'not being tricked easily' point, but at least as far as the games' canon is considered, this has never been used AGAINST Shadow's nature- if anything, his approach is a more neutral one where he has no reason to truly trust them OR to straight up ignore them/fight them in most cases).

Sonic's definitely a lot more reckless than Shadow is, a lot more impulsive. But that said, Shadow's definitely got a bit of the same problems, and he has more of an aggression towards people in general. It's funny, because if I were to ONLY use SA2 as a basis, Shadow would seem generally calmer and more rational than Sonic, but the rest of the series pretty much sullies that perception of Shadow.

Edited June 10 by Shade Vortex

[Diogenes]

5 minutes ago, Shade Vortex said:

-Shadow knew to immediately trust Omega despite him being one of Eggman's robots.

They started fighting immediately and only stopped because Rouge put herself between them.

[Shade Vortex]

3 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

They started fighting immediately and only stopped because Rouge put herself between them.

I guess I misremembered the scene. It has been many years since I last played Heroes. I guess that point isn't true then, but the rest of what I said should hold up...

[captobvious42]

I'd like to imagine him pretty smart, possibly below the level of Tails and Eggman. However, how Sega's forcing current writers to write him doesn't show it. He's on par with pre-character development Vegeta, rushing in and letting his pride get the better of him, which honestly feels out-of-character for him post Sonic '06.

[juiceDpunk983]

Smarter than what was displayed in the comics. That's all I'm going to say.