Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2! Marvel Comics fans are well aware of how intelligent Avengers. However, it seems - while intelligent - Stark isn’t the smartest founding Avenger, and even he will it that another hero has him beat (at least, in one particular field of science).

In a preview for Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2 by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio, Moon Knight is trying to shut down a local drug kingpin who moved into his territory during the brief period when Moon Knight was dead. In a previous storyline, Moon Knight sacrificed himself for the greater good, but now, the violent vigilante is back in action. But, in his absence, Achilles Fairchild set up shop in his neighborhood, and Moon Knight needs all the help he can get to take the dealer down, and one hero he reaches out to is Tony Stark.

Moon Knight gives Tony a sample of the drug Fairchild is pushing, called Glitter, as he needs Stark’s help in identifying exactly what it is. The two conclude that it has magical properties, making it terrifyingly addictive, but beyond that, Stark isn’t much help. Iron Man says that Moon Knight could take the sample to Doctor Strange or Reed Richards for additional assistance, but that the one person who really could have helped him is dead. And that person is Hank Pym.

Tony Stark its Hank Pym is Smarter than Him (When It Comes to Biochemistry, at Least)

Hank Pym aka Ant-Man Founded the Avengers Alongside Tony Stark

Tony Stark and Hank Pym are probably the two smartest people on the Avengers (with Bruce Banner in the running as well), but their respective fields of expertise are wildly different - and their superpowers reflect that. Stark is an engineering genius with the ability to invent practically any piece of tech he can conceive. That’s how Stark has been able to make his most impressive Iron Man suits, ones capable of battling the Hulk or killing a god.

Hank Pym, on the other hand, is the most brilliant biochemist on Earth. That’s proven by his development of the Pym Particles, which allows the human body to shrink and grow without killing the subject. The Pym Particles can also make objects shrink or grow, but that’s infinitely less notable than a living human. Tony Stark can’t even begin to compete with Hank Pym in regard to biochemistry, and in this Moon Knight comic, Iron Man fully acknowledges that.

Tony Stark’s Complement of Hank Pym is a Good Thing for the Ultimate Universe

Hank Pym is Alive in the Ultimate Universe, & Tony Stark Just Died

Hank Pym is dead in Earth-616 while Tony Stark is alive, but in the new Ultimate Universe of Earth-6160, the opposite is true. Tony Stark was just killed by the Hulk in the Ultimate Universe, which is a detrimental blow to the Ultimates (that world’s version of the Avengers). However, while detrimental, his death isn’t a fatal blow to the team at large, as it still has other capable within its ranks - including Hank Pym. Stark acknowledges that Hank is smarter than him in a particular field of study, meaning the Ultimates won’t be totally lost without Stark.

While it’s nice to know that the Ultimates are still in good hands even after the death of Tony Stark, the main Marvel Universe is certainly worse-off without Hank Pym. Tony Stark said himself that the only person he could think of to help Moon Knight - above Stephen Strange, Reed Richards, and even himself - was Hank Pym, the one founding member of the Avengers who is actually smarter than Iron Man (in biochemistry, anyway).

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2 by Marvel Comics is available November 20, 2024.