Scott Lang's intelligence

It feels like Scott's skills get overshadowed by Bruce and Stark. They all have different specialties, although Tony is genius smart. Scott is kind of quirky smart. I just wish t they'd give him a chance to show his intelligence.

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VesperX2025-10-22 04:36

In the MCU it seems like his expertise is only in hacking and cybersecurity. Even his engineering level is that of a high school teacher.

Wars4w2025-10-22 05:30

I mean, he can only be as smart as the people who write him. So really the writers' engineering level is that of a high school teacher.

VesperX2025-10-22 06:06

Exactly. They write him dumb for comedic effect. They don’t even hint that he could be smarter than everyone assumes. He’s just the geeky thief.

DireWyrm2025-10-22 04:36

Scott I think got a really good showing in Endgame- he planned the time heist. He has his engineering masters, but he's also quick on his feet and very, very good at adjusting plans on the fly. I agree I'd like to see him get more time in the sun though.

Unlucky_Estate46232025-10-22 07:27

[removed]

Edboy7962025-10-22 14:08

Considering he was a burglar and the way he got a fingerprint to get into Hank's house in the first movie

HailState20232025-10-22 18:00

I think “resourceful” is the right word - Scott Lang is much more resourceful than intelligent.

Long_Plantain_70172025-10-22 09:48

yeah he really did shine in endgame, but it feels like he still gets sidelined sometimes

Remarkable_Size_22882025-10-22 09:56

yeah, he definitely deserves more spotlight, hes got that unique problem-solving vibe for sure

Accomplished-Pen93732025-10-22 10:18

totally, hes clever and has unique skills that deserve more spotlight for sure

No_Imagination_24902025-10-22 12:21

He also used his quick thinking to become the first person (we know of) to escape from the quantum realm, something Hank Pym, a genuine galaxy brain, thought was impossible.

JRHThreeFour2025-10-22 13:17

Yes. The Time Heist and recovering of the alternate Infinity Stones themselves would have been all but impossible without Scott.

No one else had access to any remaining Pym Particles to utilize for the Avengers’ suits in the present time, and no one understood anything about the Quantum Realm other than Scott since Hank was snapped.

dvolland2025-10-22 17:05

Having access to Pym particles has exactly zero to do with intelligence.

DireWyrm2025-10-22 18:23

I don't think anyone is claiming that, the point is that Scott brings a unique skill set to the table, including but not limited to his thievery skills, resourcefulness, and intelligence, and that without him the time heist simply would not have been possible.

dvolland2025-10-22 17:04

He planned the time heist? He had a general idea that time travel might work, and that’s the extent of his “planning”. He couldn’t even comprehend how time travel actually worked (the multiverse, you can’t change the past, concept).

Scott is quite handily outclassed by the intelligence of Bruce, Tony, and even Rocket. Scott is scrappy, for sure, but it’s not even close. To be fair, that bar is pretty high.

DireWyrm2025-10-22 18:05

when it came to planning the actual thefts and the logistics thereof, which is his field of expertise, yeah, he absolutely did plan that.

He is absolutely outclassed by Bruce and Tony, and I never claimed otherwise. He doesn't have to be on their level to be an intelligent, competent character. Rocket though, I'm not so sure about.

dvolland2025-10-22 18:22

What evidence do you have that he planned any detail of the heist?

DireWyrm2025-10-22 18:32

other than that it's his major skill? And that he's an ex-thief who has planned a lot of heists? Like, what, do you need on-screen proof that Tony built the quantum suits too or can we also take that at face value?

dvolland2025-10-22 18:48

So no actual evidence

DireWyrm2025-10-22 19:12

other than that having someone who has never planned a heist before plan the most important heist ever seems like a bit of a tactical error?

Conversely, what's the evidence he didn't?

dvolland2025-10-22 19:18

You are asserting that he planned the heist. The burden of proof is on you, since you are the one making the claim. Without proof, your claim is not proven. It is not on anyone to disprove your unsupported claim. Full stop.

DireWyrm2025-10-22 19:33

Fair enough. I still think that planning heists being his main skill set is plenty proof enough, but we can agree to disagree.

dvolland2025-10-22 19:51

Supposition is not proof. It’s just an opinion, and one not supported by the footage in the film.

I would add that there are multiple scenes of planning (like where Nat realizes that there are 3 stones in NY), and Scott isn’t an integral part of any of them.

Xerxes4572025-10-23 22:46

I think the issue here is that while he called it a time heist and all that. Members of the group collectively came together to plan out the heist as seen from the scene they had where they were figuring out where the stones are at different times. So while his skill set of being able to plan before as burglary, I think it’s hard since they don’t know everything that could happen.

playmaker12092025-10-23 16:21

I mean the literal idea of the time heist came from Scott. He literally said what if we entered the quantum realm at one point of time and exited at another point of time, like before Thanos. So the whole idea came from his head.

dvolland2025-10-23 19:03

Yes, the general idea of the “time heist” did come from Scott.

midasgoldentouch2025-10-22 05:13

I still don’t forgive them for how he was treated in Ant-Man and the Wasp. You learn the basics of quantum mechanics for a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and Lang has a master’s. It’s silly to paint him as unable to understand *any* of the science for a bunch of bad jokes.

Originu12025-10-22 09:48

Maybe, but mcu probably has a different syllabus given their different technological growth. And still, were the basics of QM taught during the time when scott would've been going to college?

flumphit2025-10-22 12:04

Yes. The non-fictional, non-speculative parts, anyway. The Standard Model was completed in the mid-‘70s. Source: took college physics in the ‘80s.

Originu12025-10-22 15:14

Pretty interesting to remember how early some discoveries were made

machogrande22025-10-22 17:27

If you ever think about going back in time and "inventing" technology, you need to go back pretty far or else you are likely to run into the problem that someone has already come up with the idea but the supporting technology needed hasn't been invited or perfected yet. There's an OG Twilight zone episode where a guy goes back in time and buys land with a shit ton of oil on it. He's basically all, "Haha! You fools! that land has a shit ton of oil on it!". The guy he bought it from basically says, "No shit, Sherlock. But it's down so deep we're like 30 years from the technology to reach it.".

dvolland2025-10-22 17:08

How exactly is a masters degree in electrical engineering supposed to give Scott expertise in advanced, theoretical, and quite frankly experimental quantum physics. No one besides Hank Pym is even capable of creating Pym particles - not Tony or Bruce or Rocket. No one in the universe can do that, but somehow a masters degree makes him a tier one genius? Not even close.

midasgoldentouch2025-10-22 17:31

Please point to the text where I claimed that Lang should be an expert in experimental quantum physics.

dvolland2025-10-22 17:49

I’m responding more to the broader topic than your exact post.

And the “any of the science” that Scott doesn’t understand is all the advanced theoretical quantum physics that I mentioned.

midasgoldentouch2025-10-22 17:59

Oh so you’re arguing about a point I didn’t make. All right then

aslplodingesophogus2025-10-22 17:57

I never claimed that he's on par with the geniuses but he's not stupid. I just think they dumbed him down a little too much.

dvolland2025-10-22 18:00

That’s your opinion. I think that Scott is portrayed as plenty smart, when in his field. Not understanding the multiverse and how time travel works doesn’t make him dumb; it makes him one of the 99.99999% of humans who also don’t understand time travel at that point in the story.

ChaseballBat2025-10-23 03:34

I know people with masters. They aren't mensa geniuses, they are smart but sometimes dumb especially if they aren't practicing that knowledge.

TheMobHunter2025-10-24 00:42

I don’t even have my associates yet and I’ve learned a bit of quantum stuff, they teach a bit in chem 101 and physics 2

Fresh-War-95622025-10-22 05:31

Masters in Electrical Engineering is genius smart....its purposefully downplayed.

dvolland2025-10-22 17:09

igby12025-10-22 05:48

What is “quirky smart”

aslplodingesophogus2025-10-22 09:30

He thinks quickly thinks on his feet. Hes so excited to meet the avengers.

VanillaBear99152025-10-22 07:35

I hate that they make him stupid compared to everyone else.

dvolland2025-10-22 17:12

Scott is only looks stupid when compared to the top 2 geniuses on the planet (Bruce and Tony).

Mister__Mediocre2025-10-22 10:53

I think both Scott and Starlord faced the same problem where they got to shine in their own movies, but were reduced to plot points in the larger avengers movies.

DickInAToaster2025-10-22 15:02

That’s the issues with most of the heroes in these massive ensemble movies

DireWyrm2025-10-22 19:34

I think Scott shone pretty well in Endgame, but definitely agree about his ensemble appearances. I mourn the smaller, tighter cast originally projected for Cap3 before it bloomed into Civil War every day.

mydadisbillgates2025-10-23 01:16

Curious what cast you're referring to? Wasn't a huge fan of the MCU at the time

DireWyrm2025-10-23 01:31

The original cap3 plot wasn't supposed to be civil war, it was a proper Captain America film with a much smaller scale. You can see remnants of this in the Ant-Man post credit scene where Bucky has his arm caught in something and Cap says they can't go to Tony for help. Sam says he "knows a guy" who can help, meaning Scott.

The narrative now is that "Serpent Society" was a fake out title for the third film only, but I have never bought that bc they pivoted to Civil War right after Batman v Superman started getting attention, and also RDJ was originally supposed to have a bit part and then convinced the producers to increase his role.

BetaRayPhil6162025-10-22 11:17

Scott's clever in a very normal way though. Think of all the scientists/engineers that work in very ordinary 9-5 jobs in manufacturing/tech/service industries. That's Scott. Yes, these folk are clever, but they aren't going to solve time travel in a night by themselves. Tony / SmartHulk / Reed are very much cartoon super-human intelligence, which is why they can conjure up tech so quickly.

b2bpaul2025-10-22 12:00

Yes, Scott is smart with above-average intelligence and scientific knowledge. But when he's in a room with some of the smartest people on the PLANET he will be overshadowed. Same with Spider-Man.

Universe_Nut2025-10-22 16:05

Spider-Man consistently ranks in the top ten smartest Marvel characters. He engineers his webbing, solutions and counters to the villain's powers, and despite the sliding timeline typically is a character that'd either be doing insane grad student research or working at a private lab if he wasn't doing Spider-Man.

Reed, Tony, and Hank are definitively smarter than Peter. T'Challa might be, I feel comics go back and forth on how smart T'Challa is, but he's in the illuminati at least. Charles Xavier potentially, but I think that becomes a question of raw intelligence versus knowledge. Riri might be, but I don't know if it's confirmed. Bruce probably is, but sometimes Peter and Bruce are depicted as something alike scientific peers in terms of competency and ingenuity. I don't think Amadeus Chao is smarter than Peter.

Other than maybe Doom, or Dock Ock, I don't know anyone else that would give Peter a run for his money.

b2bpaul2025-10-22 16:20

I was thinking specifically about the MCU when I made the comment about Spider-Man being overshadowed by geniuses. I agree that comics Spidey is smart but even that version has never really been presented as one of the ten smartest people on the planet (unlike Reed, Doom, Hank, Tony, Amadeus, Valeria even). Maybe top 50, which is still pretty rarified air. I think this works better for the character because he's already got super speed, strength, agility and precognition. He doesn't need to be a super-supergenius, just a regular supergenius,.

aslplodingesophogus2025-10-22 17:59

What about Beast? Where do you think he fits?

Universe_Nut2025-10-22 20:38

I'll be honest I forgot about beast. He's probably another incredible mind that's slightly underrated. We know he's the one typically most knowledgeable about genetics and biology. I know rankings can stir the pot, but just my opinion, it'd probably be something like

1.Reed Richards
2. Tony Stark
3. Hank Pym
4. Bruce Banner
5. Peter Parker
6. The Beast
7. T'Challa
8. Riri Williams
9. Charles Xavier
10. Amadeus Chao

You could probably slot in Dr. Strange, Doom, Dock Ock, and a few others somewhere in there. I don't see any of them being higher than Peter though.

Obvious-Water5692025-10-22 11:57

Scott is street smart, not book smart.

He's exceptionally resourceful and can adapt to rapidly changing situations. That's what made him a great burglar.

Im_At_Work_Damnit2025-10-22 15:49

He’s got a masters degree in electrical engineering. That’s book smart, too.

Thomas_JCG2025-10-22 12:08

Bruce and Tony are two of the smartest people on the planet, with knowledge on several fields and have pioneered some life changing technologies.

Scott Lang is a really talented engineer, but other than that he is pretty much an Average Joe. It's not fair to compare them.

pkjoan2025-10-22 12:12

He has a master in Electrical Engineering, at the very least, bro is decent smart.

dvolland2025-10-22 17:11

Decent smart, yes.

Top 5 in the universe, genius smart, not even close.

N8CCRG2025-10-22 14:23

Agree. They gave up on Lang's intelligence halfway through his first movie. Like he's an electrical engineer, and at one point he's tinkering with the regulator, and then never again do they give him any aptitude for creation or technical ability again. He's just an action hero after that.

christopher13932025-10-22 16:15

He is very unconventionally smart. He does have a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT.

And he is so fiercely intelligent in his own movies. Its shown very well when he breaks into Hank Pym’s house. Sure it was a set up, but even Hank was impressed by Scott’s skills, intelligence and how quickly Scott could adapt.

Scott uses his suit very cleverly as well. He was able to take down an Avenger who had years of military experience and who could fly and managed to get away with what they needed for the heist.

In the second movie, he used those skills to set up a successful security business leaning into his criminal past. And even under house arrest, he learnt how to play instruments, mastered misdirection and close up magic, and managed to create elaborate set ups to play with his daughter.

And of course planning the whole time heist in Endgame. Sure Tony and Bruce worked on the time travel part, but it was Scotts idea and he was instrumental in the whole thing. Plus later in the film, he and Hope fixed a very badly damaged time machine in the middle of what was the most dangerous warzone in the entirety of the MCU in mere minutes.

Scott is an absolute genius in very unconventional ways, is able to adapt and create plans in the fly and only uses those skills to help as many people as possible. I do believe he is one of the smartest people in the MCU, just a different kind of intelligence to the likes of Tony or Bruce or Reed.

AnonymousFriend802025-10-22 17:47

Lang's a intelligent guy, for sure. But Stark and Banner are in the top 0.01% of geniuses. They are the top of the top of their fields. You could give them the raw materials and they can build extremely complex devices.

usmannaeem2025-10-22 19:08

Yes, Marvel Studios deliberately tonned him down as they have done with alot of other characters.

TowelFine69332025-10-22 23:10

Yes. I really wish there was another movie before AOU showing the OGs really coming together as a team & one after (before CW) incorporating new members (Wanda, Vision, Sam, Scott...)

SerialCouchAddict2025-10-23 03:02

I feel like it's a pretty accurate depiction based on what we've been told?

Scott has a Masters in Engineering. He's shown to be good at engineering, a good problem solver, and very good at adapting on the fly. He's clearly much smarter than the average person. But we're never told or given any indication that he's particularly brilliant or anything.

Tony Stark is an engineering savant. Dude invented renewable clean energy in a cave with a box of scraps. He taught himself Nuclear Engineering in a couple of nights according to Avengers. He's like above a PhD level intelligence. He literally invented time travel through the Quantum Realm.

Same with Bruce. He's the world's foremost expert on Gamma radiation and has multiple PhDs.

Like, of course they're presented as smarter than Scott? Based on what we've been told about the characters they are objectively smarter than him.