Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s release on Nov. 11, 2022, has ushered in a new era for Wakanda as the death of King T’Challa culminates in a power struggle. The MCU has had plenty of figures who have been in leadership positions, with quite a few tasting impressive successes.
These include kings like T’Challa to soldiers like Captain America who had to guide his team through intergalactic wars. While the leaders have more wins than losses under their belt, it’s interesting to see where their weak points were and what made certain other characters more effective in their roles as captains of their teams.
10 Odin Ruled Over The Nine Realms For Centuries
While Odin might not be high in fans’ list of the best Thor characters due to the many mistakes he made raising his children, he deserves credit for maintaining peace across the Nine Realms. His effectiveness would have been higher had Odin not been unsuccessful in coming to a truce with the Frost Giants.
On the whole, though, Odin’s leadership was good, seeing as he initially conquered many realms when he was power-hungry and managed to stave off threats to the Nine Realms after he sought peace. His technique of being assertive was largely successful, although it failed on occasion when someone defiant like Thor or Loki wouldn’t listen.
9 Thor Completed Various Rescue Missions
There’s no doubt that Thor is among the best MCU characters, but even his grooming to be the king didn’t take since he never developed a real interest in it. Still, he’s had success being the leader of rescue missions, such as when he led the Revengers to save Asgard and when he led Valkyrie and Jane to reclaim the Asgardian children from Gorr.
Thor’s strategy has been to collect a band of individuals he can trust and to strike when the antagonist doesn’t expect it. The lack of a back-up plan serves as weak point, as Thor tends to order his team to just attack when their original plan doesn’t work.
8 Star-Lord Turned Outcasts Into Heroes
Star-Lord may not be respected by the Guardians all the time, but he does know how to keep them together as a unit. Under his leadership, the Guardians have saved Xandar and prevented Ego from assimilating various worlds, which Star-Lord has achieved by letting the Guardians play to their strengths.
Star-Lord’s strategy has been to position someone attack-heavy like Drax or Thor on the frontline while keeping an empath such as Mantis lying in wait until it’s time to incapacitate an opponent. Star-Lord has failed quite a bit since his team comprises dysfunctional individuals and have disobeyed him multiple times, but it’s still impressive how he’s turned outcasts into heroes.
7 Nick Fury Was Responsible For Many Agents At The Same Time
Nick Fury’s effectiveness is generally downplayed because of his inability to see that HYDRA agents had compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. until it was too late. But there’s also the fact that he’s had to lead multiple teams at the same time while maintaining all of their covers.
Fury has managed the Skrulls’ clandestine activities on Earth, which went so well that not even Spider-Man could sense it. He was also responsible for tasking his agents to bring in the members of the Avengers, effectively being the person who came up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Fury’s secretive approach has frustrated even his allies, but he’s had results primarily because he’s been difficult to predict.
6 Alexander Pierce Allowed HYDRA To Infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.
Alexander Pierce was responsible for enabling HYDRA to reach the inner depths of S.H.I.E.L.D. by becoming the Secretary of the World Security Council, winning Fury’s trust, and using turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to deliver him artifacts like Loki’s scepter.
Pierce was highly effective until Project Insight was thwarted by Captain America and Black Widow. His hubris was his weak point, as Pierce didn’t take into account any failures that might happen. But it’s hard to argue against his leadership skills overall considering he brought S.H.I.E.L.D. to its knees.
5 Valkyrie Enabled New Asgard To Function On Earth
Valkyrie is the person responsible for the Asgardians’ survival on Earth since Thor didn’t do much when was the king. Moreover, she turned New Asgard into a functioning and thriving community that the world welcomed, as Valkyrie ensured that New Asgard had its own economy and plenty of jobs for everybody.
Valkyrie wasn’t the best when it came to training the Asgardians to defend New Asgard, with only Thor and Jane’s arrival averting disaster. However, she was well on her way to rectifying that by the end of Thor: Love and Thunder when the Asgardians began learning the art of combat.
4 Wenwu Spearheaded The Ten Rings Organization Through Various Conquests
Wenwu cultivated a feared persona for himself after founding the Ten Rings organization, which became so huge that it had spread all across Asia. Wenwu had thousands upon thousands of men under his command, making him one of the most powerful people in the world.
His effectiveness was apparent due to the fact that Wenwu operated over centuries and completed various conquests. Wenwu’s love for his wife curbed his revolutionary goals, although he had a long streak of success to back up his claim as a feared warlord.
3 T'Challa Ushered A New Age For Wakanda
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T’Challa took over Wakanda during a time of unrest, as the various tribes were not in agreement with how the country was run. T’Challa’s conflict with Erik Killmonger taught him that Wakanda’s reclusive ways did more harm than good and opened its borders, which brought a new age of prosperity and unity.
T’Challa’s leadership had to do with him hearing all parties involved. He gave equal attention to everyone, ranging from the Dora Milaje to his younger sister. This enabled T’Challa to see people’s strengths where others wouldn’t, which is why he had the strongest people in his inner circle who ensured that Wakanda was protected and progressive.
2 Captain America Guided The Avengers In Universe-Level Wars
There were always times for the character to take up the leadership role in each of Captain America’s appearances in the MCU. He proved to be a tactical genius by breaking down the Red Skull’s factions during WWII and preventing a mass disaster. Captain America then went from a global-level leader to a universe-level one, as he led the Avengers against Loki and Thanos’ invasions.
His leadership style was to always be involved in every facet of the attack, which he accomplished by constantly being in communication with his team and changing tactics on the fly based on whether aggression or defense was needed. Staving off the otherworldly threats with his team is something only Captain America can boast of.
1 Thanos Led His Armies To Conquer Multiple Planets
There’s little doubt that Thanos is the best villain in the MCU, seeing as he successfully killed off half of the universe as he’d planned. Thanos had spent centuries waging wars on countless planets, always tasting success by eliminating half of the planets’ population.
Thanos’ effectiveness as a leader was primarily due to his willingness to make harsh decisions, such as when he sacrificed much of his troops in a blitz attack to prevent Scarlet Witch from slaying him. Thanos’ use of the Black Order as expert assassins gave him an instant edge since they would take out the major threats before Thanos used the likes of the Chitauri and leviathans to wreak havoc.