The phenomenon of over-educated supervillains, equally prevalent in horror fiction and comic books, goes back at least as far as the
Victorian archetype of the
Mad Scientist - people who worshipped the false god of the intellect, often violating
taboos in their ungodly pursuit of knowledge. Usually these villains were doomed to be destroyed by their own creations, but often would instead be slain or overthrown by courageous heroes of no exceptional intellect, but stout Christian hearts. The triumph of Good over Evil was therefore also a triumph of the spirit over the intellect.
One could argue that it actually goes back even further, to the ancient tales of sorcerers and alchemists being defeated by virtuous jocks with swords. Medea is one example of an ancient Over-Educated Supervillain.
Perhaps because of my own bias as an atheist, I find the subtext of these older tales rather disturbing. The basic message is that knowledge is evil, and that virtue and scientific curiousity cannot co-exist. "There are some things Man was not meant to know" is the ominous tagline. While this seems not to be the point of modern superhero stories, I would point out that the basic idea (Virtuous brawny Everyman vs. immoral scientist) is still prevalent.
Stephen King's "Danse Macabre" actually covers this subject very well, and I recommend it to anyone who really wants an analysis of this theme.
Some books and films (fiction) that address similar concepts: