Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the story of Edward and Alphonse Elric and their quest to restore their bodies after their disastrous attempt to revive their dead mother. They wander the nation of Amestris seeking answers, but soon enough, they get involved in a sinister plot to conquer the entire world, and the villains are many steps ahead of them.
Homunculi, chimeras and supernatural alchemy are all a reality, and Edward and his allies face wily and smart opponents who can outfox the heroes at nearly every turn. In fact, some of Ed's worst enemies are fellow state alchemists, not just homunculi, and these cunning foes won't go down without a fight. Which Fullmetal Alchemist villains are the smartest of all?
10 Envy Manipulated & Spied On People In Disguise
The shapeshifting Envy was a secret agent working for the villainous Father, and it was he who set off the entire Ishval Civil War by shooting an Ishvalan child while disguised as an Amestris military officer. Envy was also the one who shot and killed the beloved Maes Hughes while in the form of Hughes' wife.
Envy sometimes gets carried away and makes mistakes, but he is still an expert in manipulating people, such as when he convinced May Chang to return to Central to seek the Philosopher's Stone. Envy took that chance to break free and regain his body.
9 Lust Also Manipulated People While In Disguise
Lust the homunculus could easily manipulate people and coax information out of them, even without the benefit of Envy's shapeshifting powers. Lust used her good looks and social skills to draw information out of people, though she never got all the intel she wanted from Jean Havoc. Jean was wise enough to keep some secrets to himself.
Lust is also a capable leader, and early in the series, Father often trusted her to lead a small team of homunculi on missions, usually with Envy and the ravenous Gluttony. However, Lust got sloppy when fighting Roy Mustang and arrogantly left him wounded but alive. That cost her everything.
8 Scar Evaded The Amestris Military For Weeks
For a time, the vengeful Ishvalan codenamed Scar was a villain, and he had more than just brawn on his side. He could perform the first two stages of alchemy by comprehending and breaking down matter around him, and he also had some serious survival skills. He was not easy to track or find.
Scar spent weeks eluding the Amestris military, and even Roy Mustang couldn't catch him. At one point, Scar even switched trains and created a landslide to throw off his pursuers, but he ultimately couldn't evade his #1 pursuer, Solf J. Kimblee.
7 Isaac McDougal Somehow Uncovered The Truth Of Father's Plan
This anime-only villain appeared in only the first episode, and he was hostile to Ed and Al because he had somehow discovered the truth of Father's plan and the Amestris military's involvement in it, and Ed was still loyal to the military at the time. It couldn't have been easy to uncover Father's plan like that.
Isaac fought hard to escape capture, and he used his ice and water alchemy to hold off all his foes and try to shut down Father's plan early on. He did a fine job eluding Ed, but he lost in the end, and then King Bradley killed him personally.
6 General Raven Was Part Of Father's Inner Circle
Most of General Raven's intelligence and cunning is implied, given his lofty rank and his membership in Father's inner circle of chosen ones. He is one of several high-ranking officers who is aware of Father's plan, and no doubt Raven has made many crafty moves to help advance Father's agenda while posing as an ordinary officer.
It takes cunning to live that double life, but Raven couldn't get away with it forever. He visited Fort Briggs and freed the homunculus Sloth, and tried to invite Major-General Olivier Armstrong into Father's inner circle. Olivier played along until she slew Raven and hid his body in wet concrete.
5 The Gold-Toothed Doctor Performed Advanced Experiments For Father
The gold-toothed doctor was a key part of Father's plan, and this old man was the one who helped create the human homunculus Wrath several decades ago. Nothing is known of this doctor's personal life or even his name, but he is clearly a smart and ruthless alchemy researcher.
The gold-toothed doctor is a typical mad scientist, using countless test subjects in the quest to create Wrath while crossing all kinds of ethical boundaries. He also used advanced alchemy to further Father's plans during the Promised Day. Ultimately, he was struck down.
4 Pride Passed Himself Off As Human & Spied On People For Father
Pride is the oldest of Father's "children," and his true body is a mass of shadows covered in eyes and mouths. He is also a great actor, and passes himself as an ordinary human boy named Selim Bradley. Somehow, Pride has hidden the fact that "Selim Bradley" has been around for over 200 years without aging.
Pride can spy on practically anyone from the shadows, and he once threatened Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye after a tense encounter by promising to keep spying on her, in case she acts against Father's will. Pride is also a quick thinker in combat, though he sometimes takes his opponents too lightly.
3 Solf J. Kimblee Is A Skilled Tracker & Investigator
The "red lotus" alchemist Solf J. Kimblee is a war criminal from the Ishval Civil War, and ever since his imprisonment, he's been biding his time, hiding a Philosopher's Stone in his stomach. Now he's free, and Father needs him to find Scar and Dr. Marcoh.
Kimblee is a brutal alchemist in battle, and he is also an expert in tracking people and seeing things through their eyes. Not even the wily Scar could throw Kimblee off his scent, and Kimblee was even more cunning while hunting Scar in a mining town. It's not easy to escape him.
2 Wrath Led The Nation As King Bradley
The homunculus of anger, Wrath, is a cold and calculating villain who expresses his wrath as razor-sharp ruthlessness on the battlefield. Wrath is an expert in battlefield tactics, and he is a quick and resourceful thinker, able to find and exploit any weakness in his foes.
Wrath can also lead the entire nation of Amestris as King Bradley while also serving as one of Father's top minions, and no doubt that requires a lot of mental acuity to pull off. No one else could live a double life in the nation's highest office.
1 Father Orchestrated A Grand Plan & Used Everyone
The archvillain, Father, had remarkably humble beginnings. He was just a tiny homunculus in a glass flask, but he dreamed big, and he manipulated Slave #23 into learning alchemy. The slave, now named Van Hohenheim, acted on the homunculus' behalf and convinced the Xerxian king to create a nation-wide transmutation circle.
The homunculus gained a new body and new powers at the expense of all Xerxians, then later created his seven homunculus children. From there, he formed and controlled the entire nation of Amestris, orchestrating absolutely everything over the centuries for his great plan. Only a true villainous mastermind could pull that off, and he very nearly succeeded. In the end, though, he was dethroned as a would-be god.
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