The Biggest Unsung Heroes In The MCU

Ho Yinsen is one of the main reasons there's an MCU in the first place. He was a doctor who was taken by the very same terrorist organization that imprisoned Tony Stark in the beginning of Iron Man, and he was ordered to tend to Stark's injuries. 

Stark and Yinsen were then ordered to build weapons for the terrorist group, but instead, Stark and Yinsen began developing a suit of armor they could use to escape. To give Stark the time he needed to power up the suit and free himself, Yinsen bravely sacrificed himself by taking on the terrorists alone. This act of self-sacrifice ultimately saved billions of lives through the future heroics of Iron Man. 

Early on in Black Panther, M'Baku challenged T'Challa for the throne of Wakanda. He lost, and T'Challa spared his life instead of slaying him.

M'Baku repaid this debt at a critical point later in the film by providing a safe refuge for T'Challa and his family after he was badly injured by Killmonger. Even though T'Challa had defeated him, M'Baku remained loyal to his king and helped nurse him back to health. M'Baku even went to battle with T'Challa against Killmonger's forces, helping the Black Panther to secure his place at the head of Wakanda once again. Without the help of M'Baku, no one would have had the strength to stand in Killmonger's way.

Heimdall has a long history of being an unsung hero of Asgard. In Thor, Heimdall was one of the few Asgardians to openly oppose Loki, and in Thor: The Dark World, Heimdall caught the Dark Elf Harrow as he attempted to escape and fought back against Malekith's forces. While both of those deeds were heroic, there's no comparing them to what the Asgardian guardian did in Thor: Ragnarok. 

Hela, warrior princess and supposed heir to the Asgardian throne, neutralized Thor and Loki early on in Thor: Ragnarok to put an early stop to them meddling in her plans. With them out of the picture and off playing games on Sakaar, Hela tore through the Warriors Three and quickly took over Asgard. Heimdall evaded her initial strike and got to work shepherding refugees out of the city. Heimdall and Thor were also able to communicate across planets, and it was Heimdall who told Thor how to get off of Sakaar. Not only did Heimdall keep the people of Asgard safe, but he also had time to help Thor in his little side quest. Heimdall then stood his ground and fought valiantly during the battle on the rainbow bridge. 

In Infinity War, Heimdall's last living action was to send Bruce Banner through a portal to escape Thanos, potentially saving the entire universe by giving Dr. Strange and Iron Man enough warning to throw a wrench in the Black Order's initial visit to Earth.

It's pretty unfair that Tony Stark and Bruce Banner - the men that created Ultron - are considered the heroes in that movie. You know who should actually be heralded as a hero? Not the men who created an evil robot, but the woman who created a good one. 

Helen Cho is a force for good in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And not the kind of "grey, makes mistakes, avenges problems when we screw up" kind of good you see from a lot of the dudes in capes. She's the person the Avenger's call when they need someone to patch them up. Her scientific mind wows everyone on the Avengers when she shows off her regeneration cradle that actually regenerates the tissue on Hawkeye's body (right there - saved an Avenger, hero point). 

Then, Ultron corners her to convince her to put his brain inside a new android body. Because she stands up to him, he has to resort to mind control. The very moment that mind control lets up, she shuts off the process, saving everyone from a world where Ultron inhabits the Vision and becomes virtually unstoppable. Her creation then goes on to become instrumental in the fight against Ultron. Without Helen Cho, there's a good chance the Avengers would have lost their fight to a monster they created.

"Everything special about you came out of a bottle," is the famous insult Tony Stark directed at Steve Rogers in The Avengers. If he were right about that, that would mean Abraham Erskine, creator of the Super Soldier Serum, should get all the credit for Captain America. The ironic thing is that even though Stark was clearly wrong about what made Steve Rogers truly super, Dr. Erskine should still get credit for knowing that from the beginning.

Erskine wasn't just the man who created the serum; he also handpicked Steve Rogers to become Captain America. As Erskine put it, "The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse." Erskine was fully responsible for the success of Captain America because he was the one who chose Steve Rogers. He saw the spark in a scrawny kid from Brooklyn and knew that he was the perfect candidate. Thanks to Erskine's wise decision-making, the MCU was saved multiple times over. 

Avengers: Infinity War took a great toll on all the Avengers, but it seemed to rattle Thor most of all. The hero, blaming himself for not defeating Thanos, fell into a depressive slump where he spent his days drinking and playing video games without ever leaving his home. When called upon by the Avengers to join the fight to get half the universe back, he joined but clearly wasn't himself. It wasn't until the time-traveling mission to regain the Infinity Stones that Thor came face-to-face with his deceased mom once again and got his groove back. 

Imagine this version of events from Frigga's perspective. First, she heard someone sneaking around and discovered her son, Thor. Except, he was no ordinary Thor. He was worn from years and much larger than the son she knew. Upon a few moments of conversation, she realized he was "not the Thor [she] knows at all" and that he was from the future. This revelation didn't even slightly shock her, and she instantly began to comfort the clearly distressed Odinson. She listened to his tale and reminded him that everyone fails at who they're supposed to be, and the measure of a hero is "how well they succeed at being who they are." This brief pep talk caused a noticeable change in Thor's demeanor, which was reflected through him calling out to Mjolnir and discovering he's still worthy of his hammer.