11 MCU Supporting Characters, Ranked By Intelligence

The main heroes and villains of the MCU are, more often than not, pretty intelligent. The obvious ones are the book smart folks like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Peter Parker while Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and others showcased brilliance on the battlefield and by carrying out their missions.

Although they tend to get all of the shine, the MCU also has plenty of supporting characters who are smart as well. Some are arguably the smartest characters in the entire franchise, others are just starting to display their potential, and a few even used it for heroic purposes, making them even better all-around characters.

10 Michelle “MJ” Jones & Ned Leeds

It’s almost impossible to separate these two characters. They are the closest friends to Peter Parker during the trilogy of Spider-Man movies in the MCU and both are seemingly on his level of brilliance. Along with Peter, MJ and Ned are smart enough to get accepted into MIT (if it wasn’t for Spidey’s controversy).

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ned is Peter’s “guy in the chair,” able to help him on his missions and even hack into the suit created by Tony Stark, which is no small task. In No Way Home, MJ was right there with Ned as basically the “girl in the chair” and she was smart enough to figure out that Peter was Spider-Man when nobody else had in Far From Home.

9 Erik Selvig

It’s pretty clear that if you’re an astrophysicist, you’re going to be of genius-level intellect. That’s the case with Erik Selvig, who worked closely alongside Jane Foster in the first two Thor movies and was a useful minion for Loki due to his brain during The Avengers.

After the events of those movies, Selvig was seemingly driven mad but even so, he managed to overcome his trauma and help out in Thor: The Dark World. He’s likely smarter than some other supporting characters but didn’t have as many chances to show it.

8 Melina Vostokoff

Similar to Erik Selvig, Melina Vostokoff is someone who didn’t get a ton of screen time to really show the audience how smart she is. However, it’s evident that’s the case when you consider what her role was within the Red Room and as a scientist.

Her debut in Black Widow laid out her history and though she certainly did some truly terrible things in her life, a lot of it was possible because of her smarts. Melina researched the awful mind control methods for General Dreykov and out in the field, she was also a brilliant spy.

7 Quentin Beck

For the most part, Quentin Beck doesn’t have the impressive titles that some others do but he is obviously a smart person. For starters, he had a prominent position at Stark Industries and he was apparently the person to come up with the technology that Tony later christened B.A.R.F.

His holographic illusions were impressive enough that they were able to fool millions or possibly billions into believing them, including the brilliant Peter Parker. Quentin actually had a chance to be successful but mistakes by his team and his own ego cost him, though even when he lost, he had a backup plan set.

6 Arnim Zola

Nobody in the MCU has seen their intellect span as long a period of time as Arnim Zola. He first started out as the scientist working alongside the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. Shockingly, he returned in a form decades later in Captain America: The Winter Soldier with his consciousness transferred into a supercomputer.

That allowed Arnim to basically work in the shadows and help HYDRA infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. undetected. Though that ended up getting thwarted, he returned again in What If…? and Zola was really the only chance the heroes had at stopping Ultron, further proving his smarts.

5 Darcy Lewis

In her first few appearances in the first two Thor movies, Darcy Lewis seemed like nothing more than comedic relief. She was obviously smart as she was a political science major working as a research assistant to Jane Foster but it was unclear where that would take her.

The answer came in WandaVision when Darcy returned, now with a doctorate in astrophysics by 2023. She was brought in by S.W.O.R.D. to help with The Hex that Wanda created in Westview. In fact, she’s the one who ends up figuring out the broadcast signals to see what was happening inside.

4 Howard Stark

Howard Stark has one of the most interesting histories in the MCU. The genius is the founder of Stark Industries and one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D., long heralded for his impressive inventions. Even with the lack of technology during his era, he did some incredible things.

It was Howard Stark who made Captain America’s shield, helped teach his son a lot of what he knew, did work on the Tessaract, and was pivotal in various events throughout Agent Carter. All of his work meant sacrifices when it came to family but he helped billions with it.

3 Hank Pym

Another veteran of the MCU’s history, Hank Pym was actually one of its first heroes. Donning the Ant-Man suit, he and his wife embarked on plenty of missions over the years, mostly because of the fact that he invented the shrinking technology to do so.

Considering what that tech has allowed for, Pym’s invention is one of the most important in the MCU. It even helped the heroes get to the Quantum Realm, which played a major part in Avengers: Endgame. Then, the What If…? series depicted Hank as a man who murdered multiple Avengers, showing how deadly his genius brain could be.

2 Jane Foster

If Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis are among the MCU’s smartest characters, then Jane Foster unquestionably is. She has already proven herself to be one of the world’s leading minds when it comes to astronomy, astrophysics, and more. Her trip to Asgard also gave her invaluable experience.

Another thing that helps Jane stand out as a top mind in the franchise is how she’s willing to accept new ideas. Many scientists will scoff at the concept of magic but she understands that it’s just something new to explore. Throw in Jane’s worthiness of wielding Mjölnir when she returns and she’s clearly someone special.

1 Shuri

For the longest time, fans felt like either Tony Stark or Bruce Banner had to be the smartest person in the MCU but that all changed with Black Panther. The film introduced Shuri, the younger sister of T’Challa who manages to use Wakanda’s access to Vibranium to turn out fantastic inventions.

It’s because of her work that T’Challa has such a durable suit when he goes out into action. Shuri was also able to use the tech to heal Everett Ross from a seemingly fatal wound. Her greatest moment of genius came in Avengers: Infinity War when she figured out how to remove the Mind Stone from Vision when no one else could, though she was stopped by Thanos’s forces.

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