The Best Sentient MCU Objects Ranked

The Marvel Cinematic Universe boasts a wide array of fantastic characters. Super soldiers shouldering the weight of the past, spies looking to atone for their sins, alien creatures toting huge guns who happen to look like raccoons — these memorable figures are the beating heart of the franchise. But some of the MCU's most heroic and dangerous figures don't look like people (or particularly expressive animals) at all. Nevertheless, they are still intelligent beings with strong personalities, well-developed character arcs, and key roles in the MCU's over-arching story. These sentient objects might not have a face, but they do have a whole lot of heart.

In a universe full of advanced AIs, Asgardian weapons, magical artifacts, and all-powerful Infinity Stones, a character can be almost anyone or anything. And while it might be tempting to give all the credit to the main superheroes of these stories, the contributions of these intelligent artifacts can't be denied. In celebration of these heroic constructs, we've decided to rank the most beloved sentient objects of the MCU, based on their intelligence, self-awareness, morality, and level of consciousness. Some of our choices might cause you to raise your eyebrows, as you may not have considered them sentient beings to begin with. But remember: This is a cinematic universe where a bodiless computer program can evolve into one of the most powerful and sympathetic Avengers around. These pieces of clothing, weaponry, and armor are artificial, but their impact is altogether authentic.

Originally used as a guardian for Odin's treasure room, the Asgardian weapon known as the Destroyer eventually becomes a pawn of Loki's when he uses it to gain revenge on his brother Thor in the first MCU Thor film. After sending it to Midgard (AKA Earth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) orders the Destroyer to go on a rampage in New Mexico, attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the Warriors Three, and civilians until Thor (Chris Hemsworth) goes up against it, sans superpowers.

Fortunately, allowing the Destroyer to attack him in such a state makes the thunder god worthy of wielding Mjolnir again, and he uses his restored powers to make short work of the formidable automaton. The Destroyer shows up one more time in the tie-in MCU comic book series Fury's Big Week. In this series, S.H.I.E.L.D. manages to tap into the Destroyer's power and construct special weapons from the knowledge they glean, including the one that Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) uses against Loki in The Avengers.

Since Loki totally controls the Destroyer in its most memorable appearance, its mental strength is likely not very strong. Nevertheless, since the Destroyer was originally built to protect Asgard's treasures and dangerous weapons, this animated suit of Asgardian armor has at least some degree of autonomous thought. Certainly, it needs to be able to distinguish between allies and enemies to do its job — although Loki's actions do show that this part of its programming can be tidily overridden.

In the MCU, Spider-Man's spider isn't just a cool chest emblem — it's a fully-functioning drone that Spidey can remove from his costume and send out to secretly scout enemy locations. Like Falcon's Redwing drone, the Spider-Drone (which Peter Parker adorably nicknames "Droney" in Spider-Man: Homecoming) can fly, and is capable of sending visual images back to Spider-Man's high-tech eye pieces. Droney can also respond to Spider-Man's vocal commands, and has a link to Spidey's other AI system, Karen.

Droney ranks slightly higher than Redwing on this list because the clever little creation actually displays something of a personality in Spider-Man: Homecoming, settling down on Spidey's head and crawling on the webslinger when it's not following its master's orders. It's also capable of coordinating with Karen and Spider-Man, indicating it has a fairly sophisticated Stark AI system and some degree of true sentience. Sam might treat Redwing like a pet, but Droney has displayed more truly pet-like attributes.

Unfortunately, this particular drone hasn't been seen since Tony Stark took back the original Spider-Man suit. Since Droney was intended to be one of the crimefighting gadgets Peter would have access to only after successfully completing his training program (which Peter hacks his way out of), it's possible Droney was permanently deactivated. Here's hoping we haven't seen the last of this adorable artificial arachnid and his array of useful features.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker receives a unusual gift from the late Tony Stark: A pair of glasses containing the AI program E.D.I.T.H (voiced by Dawn Michelle King), its name being an acronym for "Even Dead I'm the Hero." E.D.I.T.H grants Peter access to Stark's powerful defensive grid, enabling him to, among other things, launch drone strikes from space. This mega-powerful AI can also hack into secure systems and allow Peter to see people's private text messages in real time.

E.D.I.T.H's destructive potential is fully explored when Peter naively transfers ownership of the glasses to Quentin Beck, AKA Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). The villain promptly uses them to spy on people and commandeer Stark's deadly fleet of drones. While Spider-Man is able to regain control of the AI, his actions inadvertently threaten many people.

While this AI seems relatively friendly around Peter, E.D.I.T.H also doesn't seem to have an underlying moral code, as she has no problem obeying deadly orders once her ownership is transferred to Beck. Although her program attempts to protect Beck by keeping him out of the line of fire when he orders a drone attack, she even allows him to be shot when he overrides her safety protocols. This AI may be more sophisticated than other artificial intelligences, but her morality is too easily compromised.

Not all sentient objects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe come from Asgard or Stark Industries. Some, like Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation, come from stranger climes and boast their own colorful personalities. A magical relic, the Cloak appears as one of the items on display in the New York Sanctum during the first solo Doctor Strange film. When Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) gets into a fight with some mystic warriors, however, the Cloak ditches its case and comes to his aid, thus choosing him as its new master.

Aside from giving Doctor Strange the power of flight, the Cloak grants him valuable guidance by literally dragging him towards the most effective weapon in the Sanctum, enabling him to trap the villainous Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen). Despite not being able to speak, the Cloak further reveals it is not only sentient, but friendly, even stroking Strange's face affectionately when he pops up its collar. Awwww.

In later appearances, the Cloak reveals it is incredibly loyal and brave. When Doctor Strange gets kidnapped by Thanos' underlings in Avengers: Infinity War, the Cloak literally yanks him out of their grasp and tries to fly him to safety. Later, it wraps itself around Thanos' arm to prevent him from using the Infinity Gauntlet, although this causes the Mad Titan to rip the Cloak off and possibly damage it. As Tony Stark notes when he sees the Cloak hovering near its master, "You are a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?"

Was there any doubt who would make the top of this list? Introduced in the original Iron Man film, J.A.R.V.I.S. (Paul Bettany), is an advanced AI whose acronym stands for "Just a Rather Very Intelligent System." J.A.R.V.I.S. certainly lives up to his name, as he runs all the internal systems in Tony Stark's buildings, quite a lot of Stark Industries' business dealings, and assists Tony in the lab. He later helps pilot the Iron Man suit, and in Iron Man 3, reveals he's capable of piloting multiple Iron Man suits simultaneously, making him an arguably more capable superhero than Iron Man himself.

Most notably, J.A.R.V.I.S. has a very strong personality. Although he's built to serve Tony Stark, he's no servant. Instead, he regularly makes sarcastic comments about his maker-employer's social and work habits, and openly ridicules Stark's decision to color his Iron Man suit red and gold. Nevertheless, he shares an undeniable friendship with Tony, who feels genuinely sad when his AI assistant shuts down following an attack in Iron Man 3.

Avengers: Age of Ultron reveals how sophisticated J.A.R.V.I.S. truly is. Even after Ultron seemingly destroys him, J.A.R.V.I.S.' consciousness continues to prevent Ultron from gaining Earth's nuclear codes. With such a strong sense of morality, it's no wonder that Tony chooses J.A.R.V.I.S. to inhabit Ultron's new synthetic body and evolve into the Vision, an utterly unprecedented "synthezoid."