The MCU is constantly branching out to near-unstoppable lengths. Introducing new superheroes became the talk of the town as soon as we entered Phase 4 of the franchise and left behind the iconic Infinity Saga. Through franchises like Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Black Panther, the MCU slowly introduced advanced technology and science and thought it what was originally a more grounded approach to the comic book superhero movie. Phases 4 and 5 effectively widened the scope, further diving into the Multiverse, magic, and the intersection of technology, science, and ethics.
Update September 2, 2023: This article has been updated by Jack Deegan to better reflect recent developments in the MCU.
As a result, it’s only natural that the MCU franchise would feature some of Marvel’s most brilliant minds. Smart heroes are needed to save the universe from all kinds of threats. Of course, the question is: Who are the smartest MCU heroes? The dynamic will certainly change once Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four officially enters, but here are the smartest heroes in the MCU.
14 Scott Lang
A lot of people see Scott Lang as nothing but a mere thief whose humor lights up the heavy situations that happen in the MCU. However, Scott is actually a very talented engineer who turned to crime only because he lacked excitement from his job and wanted to help people. Right from the get-go in the first Ant-Man, his intelligence is showcased when he manages to outsmart Hank Pym himself (even though he let him) and steal the Ant-Man suit.
Although he doesn’t know the correct vocabulary when explaining things, it was Scott who came up with the time-travel idea and gave the Avengers the chance to save the world. It should also be mentioned that Scott Lang holds a Masters’s degree in electrical engineering.
13 Nick Fury
Nick Fury is a character whose intelligence is often overlooked. The head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, is the best character at thinking ahead and preparing for the worst. The man set in a place a protocol that helped fake his own death. It was Fury’s idea to create The Avengers that would protect the Earth and gathered them together despite their differences.
His ability to lead stands out in every movie that he appears in, as well as his calculative and knowledgeable mastermind. And on top of it all, he stored the retinal scan in his damaged eye to trick his enemies after he figured out on his own that S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised by HYDRA. Even in Secret Invasion, he showed that he was able to outthink many of his opponents.
12 Peter Parker
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Chosen by Tony Stark himself, Peter Parker was labeled as the smartest kid from the get-go. He excels at chemistry, biology, and physics. He brews his own homemade synthetic webbing, which possesses unbelievable strength. Despite not devoting any attention to his classes, he is able to keep up with them and with his team.
After Tony’s death, he was left with his tech and, yes, he made some pretty bad decisions, but do not forget he’s just a 16-year-old kid. One of his biggest problems is his naivety, and we’re yet to solve that problem. However, with talks of a Spider-Man 4 featuring Tom Holland, it’s possible that Peter, now in Manhattan and out of high school, might see some growth.
11 Doctor Strange
Disney
Having five Ph. D’s from a medical school and being one of the best surgeons in the U.S. definitely makes you one of the smartest superheroes in the MCU. Yes, he is not a tech-savvy person like Stark and Banner, but Doctor Strange is smart in a different field. He was able to decipher an old text that only the Ancient One could read and used his photographic memory to study the arts unknown to him, eventually becoming, for a short time at least, the Sorcerer Supreme.
10 Jane Foster
Jane Foster is one of the few extremely intelligent women scientists in the MCU who is granted a full character arc and agency. She studies space and related anomalies and manages to save the world in her own way while Thor is busy saving his. Her latest appearance as the Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder only further proved her intelligence, as she was able to make smart decisions and had thoughts of innovative ways to use her tools.
9 Hope van Dyne
Hope Van Dyne, also known as The Wasp, is certainly smarter than her partner Scott Lang. The daughter of two of the greatest minds in the Marvel Universe, she knows her father’s technology better than anyone. She understands the workings of the Pym particle and now uses her technology to help the rest of the world following the Blip.
One of the biggest missed opportunities of the MCU so far is that Hope has been sectioned off to the Ant-Man franchise and not allowed to interact with other MCU heroes, particularly scientists. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark were the science bros, and Hope would likely be great friends with scientific minds like Shuri, Jane Foster, or Riri Williams. Here is hoping she is given a chance to show off more of her intelligence in upcoming films.
8 Hank Pym
Disney
Hank Pym‘s research into physics and entomology is unparalleled. As the inventor of the Pym Particle, his work has never been able to be replicated. This revolutionary particle has been able to shrink and grow the distance between molecules while maintaining the mass, completely revolutionizing the way physics operated. With this technology, Pym could realistically end things like world hunger.
He’s also really into ants, going as far as to study them and understand their habits more than anyone else on the planet. An often overlooked scientific breakthrough from Pym is that he found a way to communicate with ants by mimicking their electromagnetic waves. On top of all that, he’s the leading scientist when it comes to the Quantum Realm, the mirco-universe beneath our own. Pym is a scientific genius and is the top mind in every field he studies.
7 Riri Williams
At only 19 years old, Riri Williams was able to do the impossible and build a device that detects Vibranium in just a few months. A student at MIT, one of the top technology schools in the nation, Riri has a genius-level intellect. Her vibranium detector was so impressive that the CIA had to get their hands on it.
While acing all of her classes, running a business, doing other people’s work for them, and making breakthroughs like that, Riri was also building her own armor prototype. Her Mark I exosuit was impressive enough, but with Wakanda’s resources, she was able to make a fully functioning suit of armor. Riri is outsmarting some of the greatest minds on the planet at such a young age, and is only going to get smarter with age.
6 Rocket Raccoon
A genetically modified and cybernetically enhanced raccoon, Rocket possesses an intelligence level that puts him among some of the smartest in the galaxy. After being experimented on and tortured by the High Evolutionary, Rocket was given the ability to speak and think independently. That ability to think immediately made him a brilliant mind at such a young age, outsmarting the High Evolutionary.
From there, Rocket went on to become one of the greatest thieves in the universe. Quick on his feet and a genius inventor, Rocket can take scrap parts and turn them into just about anything. He even worked among other great minds like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner to help design and put together the Nano Gauntlet in Avengers: Endgame. Don’t let looks deceive you; Rocket is one of the smartest creatures out there.
5 The Vision
This one might be cheating a little bit since The Vision is a synthezoid, but it’s hard to compete with a character who can process large amounts of data in nanoseconds. With the combined input of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Ultron, and the mind stone, Vision had a supreme intelligence level that was hard to combat.
As an android, Vision soon started to develop feelings and emotions, which started to get in the way of his rational thinking. While the original Vision may have had his head ripped apart, the new White Vision that’s out there in the universe somewhere seems to be just as smart, but without any emotions getting in the way. It’s only a matter of time before we find out just how smart he really is.
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3 Bruce Banner
Anyone who’s labeled Bruce Banner as the comic relief of the MCU had to have forgotten that the scientist has seven Ph.D.s in total. He has helped to develop technology for the Avengers, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. His intelligence is very overlooked, but you have to remember that despite being academically isolated due to having to live as Hulk, he could immediately keep up with Tony after his introduction to the Avengers.
He also created a potent Super Soldier Serum that gave Emil Bronsky strength that nearly rivaled Captain America’s. Because nobody knows bi-organics better than Bruce, he helped Tony create Vision. He and Tony Stark are the science bros in the MCU for a reason, making him one of the smartest minds in the MCU.
2 Tony Stark
Tony Stark aka Iron Man. The one who started it all. Where do we even start? Tony has excelled at numerous things from a very young age and took over his dad’s company. At age four, he built his first circuit board; at age six, his first engine; at 17, he already graduated from MIT; and at age 21, he became the CEO of Stark Industries.
After being held hostage by terrorists, he was capable of building the prototype of his Iron Man suit in a mere cave. Even without wearing the suit, he found smart ways to escape Aldrich Killian’s goons in Iron Man 3, proving he was more than just the suit. After their mission failed, the man managed to crack the code for time travel overnight and even figured out how to get one of the Stones. Not to mention, he created a new element and is a master at nanotechnology.
1 Shuri
While Tony Stark is often credited as the smartest person in the MCU, that honor, in fact, belongs to Shuri. This is a statement echoed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. While some might debate this, the proof is in the films. Shuri has access to Vibranium, one of the most versatile metals on Earth. She helped revolutionize Wakanda with even more advanced weapons than the already advanced nation had. It can also be argued that her education was far superior to that of other characters. With her now the new Black Panther, Shuri fills the role that Black Panther did in the comics as one of the greatest minds in the universe.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
