I know most fans don’t read the tie-in comics, but this has to be one of the most impressive feats in the show. At the age of 13, Wally reproduced a highly advanced chemistry experiment in his garage with a kids chemistry set and household chemicals.
Some of his other intelligence feats:
- Tutored Robin on building an EMP in a few minutes whilst nearly drowning (S1E12)
- Tricking Count Vertigo into incriminating himself (S1E20)
- Helping Red Tornado prevent a volcanic winter with his science acumen (S1E15)
- Located T.O. Morrow - something even Batman couldn’t do (S1E15)
- Devised a plan to defeat Kobra by using his magical dagger against him (Young Justice 2011 #17)
- Tracked down Kobra venom thieves by observing pollen traces, which impressed Flash (Young Justice 2011 #16)
- As a teenager, understood complex chemical formulas just by looking at them e.g. Blockbuster formula (S1E4)
- Repairs Red Tornado with Robin (S1E15)
- Understood how a futuristic time machine worked (S2E6)
His reputation as a ’goofball’ overshadowed his intelligence, which was a very underdeveloped aspect of his character. Most of these feats are from season 1, which is a shame since we never got to see his full potential. Other intelligent team members (Barbara, Karen, Dick) are incorrectly perceived as being ‘smarter‘ than Wally because they had more opportunities to showcase their intellect.
His intelligence was his strongest asset (even more so than his speed), and it would’ve been great to see him become one of the JL‘s brightest minds with some more character development.