MCU: 5 Ways Why Tony Stark Is The Smartest Character (& 5 Why It's Shuri)
Tony Stark has made his mark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by being the smartest character in the franchise, a fact that he has repeatedly proven and reminded everyone in each movie he's appeared in. However, in Black Panther, fans were officially introduced to Shuri, T'Challa's younger sister.
Shortly after her introduction, she was confirmed to be the smartest character in the MCU, even more so than Tony. While she hasn't been in the franchise as long as him, she does have a long list of achievements that rivals his. Even though fans have been given a definitive answer, there are plenty of reasons why each of them is deserving of that title.
10 Shuri: Overseas All Wakandan Tech
Even though she is only 16, Shuri is the lead scientist of the Wakandan design group and is responsible for all of the country's technological advancements. This includes weaponry like Bucky's Vibranium arm and her sonic canon gauntlets as well as vehicles like the Vibranium train beneath her lab used to move the metal.
She also made upgrades to the Kimoyo beads that almost all the Wakandans wear and gifted T'Challa a pair of sneakers that mask the sound of his movements.
9 Tony: Graduated Early
Much like Shuri, Tony was an exceptionally bright child and was able to accomplish a lot at a young age. In Iron Man, it's revealed that he built his first circuit board, assembled his first engine, and hacked his way into the pentagon all before finishing high school.
Luckily his parents saw his potential and he started attending college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at just the age of 15. Two years later, he graduated Summa Cum Laude at age 17 with a Master's degree in Physics and Electrical Engineering.
8 Shuri: The Black Panther Suit
While the Black Panther suit gets passed down from each warrior, Shuri was the designer responsible for upgrading T'Challa's version.
That version was the first suit in the MCU to feature Nanotechnology beating Tony's Mark 50, which debuted in Avengers: Infinity War, by about 2 years, allowing it to be discretely hidden in a necklace and be mentally controlled by the wearer. Another major upgrade Shuri made to the suit was the ability to let it charge up with kinetic energy and use it for redistribution, an ability that proved useful in all of his future battles where he was up against entire armies.
7 Tony: The Iron Man Armor
Tony's most notable feat is the creation of the Iron Man armor which he built in a cave using components from the Jericho rocket after being captured by the Ten Rings. However, instead of building the rocket, he used the pieces to make himself a suit of armor which he could use to escape. The original armor was bulletproof, was armed with two flamethrowers in the sleeves, and was capable of one short burst of flight which was how he managed to get away from his captors before being found.
Over time, the armor has evolved, even becoming so thin that it can keep kept on him at all times. While he has made over 50 versions of the suit, including ones for his friends like the Iron Spider, Rescue, and War Machine, the original will always be the best display of his intelligence.
6 Shuri: Heals Agent Ross
In addition to being a brilliant inventor, Shuri also happens to be a skilled surgeon. After Agent Ross jumps in front of a bullet meant for Nakia, T'Challa brings him back to Wakanda for his sister to heal him. To no surprise, in just a matter of hours, she was able to successfully remove the bullet and completely heal an injury that would have left him paralyzed elsewhere.
Although Tony gave Rhodey a pair of advanced leg braces after his injury, considering he still needs those to walk, it's safe to say that Shuri is far more skilled in this area.
5 Tony: Discovered a New Element
In Iron Man 2, it's revealed that during the six months he had been Iron Man, Tony's blood was being poisoned by the palladium core in his arc reactor. Using his father Howard's research on the Tesseract which he received from SHIELD, Tony was able to create a new element that fixed the issue and had a higher output of energy.
Using the new element, he was able to craft a completely new arc reactor to replace the one that was slowly killing him. While a lot of the work was already done for him by Howard, without Tony's intellect and the resources at his disposal, it may have gone unfinished.
4 Shuri: Fixed Bucky's Mind
Bucky Barnes has experienced a lot of trauma in the MCU due to him being captured and brainwashed by HYDRA for decades after his presumed death so it was a relief when Steve brought him to Wakanda at the end of Captain America: Civil War so that he could be helped.
Thanks to Shuri, by the end of Black Panther, he was shown to be completely free of his HYDRA programming and was living a peaceful life in the village, a little over a week from when he first arrived.
3 Tony: Created Vision
While his original plan to create a peacekeeping AI backfired when Ultron attacked the Avengers and went rogue, Tony later got a chance to redeem himself after the team was able to get possession of the Vibrainium body that the robot was planning on uploading himself into.
He and Bruce Banner, along with a little help from Thor, were able to successfully put J.A.R.V.I.S. into the android's body and complete the process started by Ultron earlier in the movie, creating one of the strongest Avengers in the process.
2 Shuri: Almost Fixed Vison
After Vision was attacked by the Black Order, his internal systems stop working and he struggles to use his powers. Since Tony was off-world, the Avengers decided to bring him to Wakanda. In just a few seconds, Shuri was able to diagnose the issue and came up with a plan to detach the Mind Stone from him so it could be destroyed, something Bruce admits neither he nor Tony thought of.
Unfortunately, while Shuri was able to start the procedure, she never got to finish the process since she was attacked by Corvus Glave while doing it.
1 Tony: Unlocked Time Travel
In Avengers: Endgame, while he initially declined the team's request to help them with their time travel mission, Tony still thought about it and ran simulations to test various theories about how it could be achieved. After seeing a photo of Peter Parker, Tony got the idea to run a time configuration in the shape of a Möbius strip which turned out to be the key.
This discovery allowed the Avengers to carry out the time heist which was essential to getting the stones and bringing back half of humanity.