5 Smartest People on Invader Zim

If you have seen Invader Zim before, then you know the characters aren’t known for their intelligence. That’s me putting it lightly, too. Almost everyone in the show is too stupid to live. Thankfully, some of the characters show signs of intelligence, if not outright genius. These are the five people I consider to be the greatest bastions of intelligence in a universal sea of idiots.

#5 Zim

You’re probably wondering why, out of all people, would Zim be on this list? He single-handedly ruined Operation: Impending Doom I, almost destroyed the Irken Empire on several occasions, and fails on a regular basis. He’s basically a destructive, narcissistic idiot his own people fear. So why is he on the list?

The answer’s pretty simple: despite his countless acts of destruction and habit of ruining his own plans, Zim’s actually pretty smart. On the rare occasion when his plans do work, they end up devastating anyone that crosses him.

A prime example would be the episode The Wettening. In the span of a single episode, he devises a countermeasure against his species weakness to earth water, and turns something as simple as a water balloon into a WMD. If it weren’t for his overzealousness and ego, he’d be the deadliest Invader in the Irken Empire. Thank god he isn’t

#4- Professor Membrane

The father to Dib and Gaz, Professor Membrane is one of the smartest humans alive. Though to be fair, most humans in the show are idiots. He’s such an important scientist that world leaders rely on him for help.

Despite this, I put Membrane at number four for a number of reasons. It mainly has to do with his refusal to listen to Dib about aliens or other paranormal phenomena. While Dib does cry wolf a lot, he’s still right about Zim being an alien. Yet not even Professor Membrane’s able to see through Zim’s poor disguise. If his son, who he sometimes considers insane, can see through Zim’s disguise when he can’t, then his intelligence is questionable. Also, while he makes an effort to be there for his kids, he can be a bit of a neglectful father.

#3-Dib

Dib’s always been my favorite character on the show, and for good reason. His obsession with the paranormal led him to figure out right away that Zim’s an alien. Unfortunately, he’s cried wolf so many times that no one will believe him, or they’re just too stupid.

Despite his quirks, Dib’s by far one of the smartest humans alive in the show. He possesses a talent for science and engineering that rivals his famous father, and remains a thorn in Zim’s side. His most impressive feat, though, is being able to take possession of Tak’s ship and partially reactivate it. If he ever got it to work at its full potential, he could easily best Zim’s arsenal.

The reason why Dib’s not at the top of this list, despite how much I like him? Despite his obvious intelligence, Dib can also be very gullible. Just look at how much he obsesses over that lame show Mysterious Mysteries. Plus, he genuinely thinks that Zim is a threat to Earth. That’s something that my number two pick refuses to believe.

#2-Gaz

Of all the nightmare fuel inducing things on Invader Zim, Gaz is the most terrifying of all. I’m pretty sure even Zim is afraid of her, and he’s not afraid of anything. Since she’s Professor Membrane’s Daughter, she inherited his intellect. Which explains why she’s a genius when it comes to video games. Which reminds me, don’t get between her and her games.

Over the show and comics, Gaz shows that she’s not only on par with her brother Dib in intelligence, but even surpasses it. She was able to repair Tak’s ship in only a few moments, something Dib spent months trying to do. Plus, while she’s aware that Zim’s an alien, she doesn’t care. Unlike her paranoid brother, Gaz understands that Zim’s too dumb to conquer Earth. I’d give her the top spot for that act of common sense, but I had to give it to my number one pick.

#1- Tak

Here she is, my top pick for the smartest character in Invader Zim, Tak. Having lost her chance to become an Invader due to Zim’s unwitting interference, Tak’s obsessed with taking what she thinks should have been hers. While she denies it, I think the chance to humiliate the universally despised Zim is the icing on the cake for her.

She may have only appeared in on one episode, Tak’s actions make it apparent that she surpasses everyone on the show in terms of intellect. For starters, we have her custom-built SIR unit and ship, the latter matching Zim’s entire base in power. Then we have the fact that she blended in perfectly with everyone on Earth, to the point that not even Zim and Dib realized she was an Irken until she revealed it to them. The biggest showcasing of her intelligence, though, was her master plan for Earth. She planned to drain the planets core and fill it with all the snacks the Tallest could ever want.

It ended up taking a temporary allince between Zim, Dib, and Gaz to stand a chance against her. Even then, I only think she lost due to dumb luck. Had her plans succeeded, it’s almost certain that the Tallest would have made her an Invader on the spot. She ended up failing, though, and Tak never made another appearance on the show. She hasn’t even appeared in the comics yet. It’s sad, really. But she came closer than anyone to conquering Earth, making her the smartest character in Invader Zim.

Agree with my picks? Granted, it was slim pickings given that it’s Zim. If you liked this, be sure to comment and follow me to stay up to date on my writings.

Oh, if you guys didn’t know, Zim has his own comic book series now! Crazy right? You can read it right here on this website!

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Kneel Before Zim!

Do you remember this show? Invader Zim, the cult classic of Nickelodeon. Created by comic book writer Jhonen Vasquez and premiering in 2001, this show isn’t like other Nicktoons. It was extremely dark for a kids cartoon. Too dark, it seems, for some kids to watch, and it worried a lot of parents.

Me, I didn’t care one bit. I loved Invader Zim because it was dark and different from other Nicktoons. I did think some of the episodes were a little too scary (I don’t even remember the “Dark Harvest” one that well). But it holds a special place in my heart for the amazing use of CGI. It was one of the first times I had ever seen CGI in a kids show, so I was mesmerized by it!

All the love can’t help with bad ratings, though, and the show got pulled in the middle of its second season, with a bunch of episodes remaining unreleased or unfinished. The last episode I ever saw was its Christmas Special, which aired sixteen years ago tonight. In honor of that, I decided to rewatch it for my 25 days of Christmas. So without further ado, I give you The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever.

Zim Ruins Christmas Forever

The entire story takes place in flashback, being told by a robotic snow who is a clear parody of Frosty the Snowman. He explains that two million years ago, Zim discovered the concept of Christmas, and more importantly Santa. 

After seeing how much humanity loved and adored Santa, Zim got an idea. An awful idea. Zim got a wonderful, awful idea. *cue the evil Grinch smile*

Using alien nanotechnology, Zim creates a robotic Santa suit for him to control, then with a flourish, presents himself to the world as the real Santa Claus.

Humanity successfully fooled, he summons them to the North Pole for a huge rally. In hindsight, the decorations, chanting, and the sinister overtones of the song, reminds me of a cult rally. It does give us the most oppressive and tyrannical Christmas Song ever, though. And I loved it!

Zim’s master plan is to build a teleporter and beam humanity to the Irken Empire to use as slaves. The only one with enough sense to oppose him is Dib. But since humans in Zim are stupid, they don’t believe Dib and Zim throws him in Jingle-Jail.

Fortunately, Dib doesn’t have to do anything this time around. Zim made the Santa Suit too good, and it’s started to think it’s the real Santa. Anything Christmas-related makes it take over.

Despite his best efforts, the suit manages to overpower Zim, trapping him inside.

So Zim’s trapped forever and Santa is real. Happy ending for all! Until Dib shows up with a giant robot suit and causes the suit to go berserk. 

The Fight I Couldn’t Show You

After a giant monster fight, Dib weakens the suit enough for Zim to escape, shrink it down, and have Dib throw it into space. There might have been a moral behind all that, but for the life of me, I still don’t know.

But despite thinking him destroyed, the Santa Suit, in fact, survived to gather power in deep space. Now it comes back every year on Christmas and terrorizes the Earth, so everyone has to live inside domes and placate him with milk and cookies. Dark

Dark Show, But I Loved It

Yeah, Invader Zim was a dark and scary cartoon more often than not, but that’s what it was supposed to be. That’s why I liked it so much: it was different, and not seeing it canceled leaves a hole in my heart. I know it’s sounds sappy, but I wanted to see where the series would go. This Christmas Special was the last episode that ever aired; the rest were released years later by Nickelodeon.

In hindsight, maybe it would have been a good idea to just leave Zim trapped inside the suit. It would have been a good way to end the series: Earth saved, Santa is real, and Dib got what he wanted with Zim stopped. At least we still have the comics and the upcoming movie. And even after all these years, I still love this Christmas Special! Ho-ho-ho, Happy Holidays one and all!

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