Over the years, we have seen several insanely powerful characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But sometimes, it’s not all about power and certain characters in the MCU have proven time and again that smartness or intelligence can be a Superpower as well. Thus in this article, we take a look at the Top 10 Smartest characters in MCU.
10. Howard Stark
Howard Stark’s contribution is one of the earliest known possessors of Superhuman intelligence in the Marvel Universe and his contribution to the MCU is immense. He was the amalgamation of many real-world industrialists of that period in the Marvel Universe and thus it has the patents to almost every revolutionary American tech during the 1940s.
Howard Stark created Captain America’s Vibranium shield and he was also the supervisor at the experiment that transformed Steve Rodgers into the first Super Soldier. He was also the inventor of Vita Rays which had a huge role to play in the experiment. Moreover, Howard Stark also theorized the creation of a new element which was later executed by his son Tony Stark.
9. Jane Foster
Jane Foster is one of the leading Astrophysicists and Astronomers in the World. She is also an expert on Asgard and we first saw her in the first Thor movie. She was studying some astronomical anomalies with her team when she found Thor after he was banished by Asgard.
She learnt many things about Asgard from Thor and found out that her theories had been right all along. She also develops a romantic relationship with Thor during this time.
Jane Foster was also considered for Nobel Prize for her studies on Convergence.
8. Hank Pym
Hank Pym is widely regarded as one of the smartest persons in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is a PhD and an expert entomologist, engineer, roboticist and physicist. He invented Pym Particles which allowed anyone to grow or shrink in size as much as he/she liked and using it, he became the first Ant-Man and started working with S.H.I.E.L.D.
He left the Ant-Man mantle and S.H.I.E.L.D after an accident with his wife. The Ant-Man mantle was later taken up by Scott Lang. Hank Pym later also became an expert on the Quantum Realm.
7. Bruce Banner
Bruce Banner, PhD is an American theoretical physicist who is an expert in Nuclear physics and Gamma radiation. He is asked by the government to make the World’s first Gamma Bomb but during his research, he got bombarded with a huge dosage of radiation which mutated him into becoming the Hulk.
In the MCU, Bruce Banner has achieved some pretty unimaginable feats. He helped Tony Stark in building Ultron and he was also successful in fusing his body with Hulk permanently (and then diffusing it). Moreover, Bruce Banner also helped the Avengers in their attempt to Time Travel in Avengers: Infinity War. Unfortunately he is way behind many others on the list of Smartest Characters in MCU despite all these achievements.
6. Rocket Racoon
Rocket Racoon is one of the finest and the most underrated engineers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Besides being an awesome pilot, Rocket Racoon is also very smart and he can build stuff literally from anything just like what Tony did in the first Iron-Man movie but better.
He was the mastermind behind the Guardians of the Galaxy’s escape from the Kyln Prison and is an expert on Alien Tech. This is why even Tony and Bruce followed his lead while they were making the Nanotech Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Endgame.
5. ShuriÂ
Shuri is one of the youngest characters on the list but she is arguably the smartest character in the Marvel Universe as well. We are only keeping her at No.5 because she has an unfair advantage because of the wide availability of Vibranium that she has. Otherwise, she would rank at the very top of this list.
We have seen her designing some insanely cool gadgets in the Marvel Cinematic Universe including T’Challa’s Black Panther’s Kinetic Energy Suit. She had also found out a way to remove Vision’s Soul Stone from his head by keeping him alive in Avengers: Infinity War. Unfortunately, she did not get much time to do so as the Wakandan lab was attacked by Thanos’ army.
4. Victor Von Doom
Victor Von Doom also has a PhD degree and he is one of the most intelligent characters in the Marvel Universe. He is also the monarch of the state of Latveria and he uses the Latverian treasury to fund his research which he does to succeed in his plan to rule the world.
Victor Von Doom was a classmate of Reed Richards and is one of his and Fantastic 4’s arch-enemies. Dr Doom is also a great Sorcerer and is very potent in magic. He once made Vibranium stronger using his magic. His biggest scientific feats in the Marvel Universe include separating Hulk from Bruce Banner’s body.
3. Tony Stark
When we think of Smart characters in the MCU, the name of Tony Stark comes first in our minds. The billionaire businessman was a prodigy and he made it to MIT at the young age of just 15. He is their most famous alumnus.
Tony Stark is a genius engineer and he has created all the versions of Iron-Man suits himself. He has also invented the AI technologies, Jarvis and Edith. He also made Ultron and although the software turned rogue against the Avengers, the fact that he accomplished it is a massive achievement in itself. He also made the most valuable contribution in the Avengers’ attempt to Time travel in Avengers: Endgame.
Basically, he was behind all the tech-related Avengers stuff all the way up to his death in Endgame. However, there are two characters that rank above him on the ranking of the Top 10 Smartest characters in MCU.
2. Reed Richards
Reed Richards is by far the greatest scientific mind the Marvel Universe has ever seen and Tony Stark himself calls him a Level 12 Genius. He was an expert in space travel, time travel, extra-dimensional travel, biochemistry, robotics, computers, synthetic polymers, communications, mutations, transportation, holography, energy generation, spectral analysis and more.
1. Nathaniel RichardsÂ
Nathaniel Richards lives in 30th Century Earth-6311 is one of the greatest scientists in his generation and the Marvel Universe as a whole. It is he who invented and mastered the art of Time travel and he found a way to time travel without creating a divergence which has never been done by any other character.
Nathaniel Richards is said to be the descendant of Reed Richards but some also trace back his roots to Victor Von Doom. Nathaniel Richards later famously came to be known as the Super-villain Kang the Conquerer. He definitely tops the list of Smartest characters in MCU.
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