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With great power comes great responsibility, as the old Marvel saying goes. Unfortunately, not every MCU superhero always makes the best decision. Sometimes the consequences are humorous, sometimes they're more serious. The MCU is full of examples of people who made dumb decisions even though they're otherwise smart.
That led to a lot of problems for the heroes but also plenty of funny situations for the viewers. Some of the dumbest decisions in the MCU happened simply because the heroes were under pressure and didn't have time to properly think things through. This is the case for both older and younger characters.
5 Rocket And Yondu: Send Groot For Yondu's Fin
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017) had many great characters, but baby Groot became one of the fan favorites. But he wasn't necessarily the smartest character in the movie as he got easily distracted, such as in the opening scene of the movie. But Rocket and Yondu displayed even poorer judgment when they got locked up and asked baby Groot to find and bring them Yondu's fin. While he was eager to help, baby Groot didn't get the message and brought many great things, including a huge table and a severed thumb.
Finally, the trio had to receive outside help in order to break free. Even though the scene was hilarious, Yondu and Rocket should have known better than to ask baby Groot to do all the heavy lifting for them, considering baby Groot's youth. On the other hand, the good news is that all Groot's fans got to learn important information about him - the fact that Groot hates wearing hats!
4 Hawkeye: Switching His Hairstyle
This one is a small detail but one that the fans noticed and paid a lot of attention to nevertheless. When he lost his family after Thanos snapped his fingers and erased half of the universe, Clint Barton made several significant changes. He became the assassin Ronin, separated himself from his surviving friends...and got a new hairdo. Of all the three decisions, the last one was the most questionable one. While Clint can pull off many great looks, his new hairstyle wasn't exactly flattering.
So much so that Hawkeye memes appeared online, pointing out that when Thanos snapped the people out, he also snapped out half of Clint's hair. Luckily, by the time his TV series Hawkeye premiered on Disney+, Clint was back to the old hairstyle his fans have grown to know and like. And the fact that he wasn't the only Avenger with a bad hairdo can comfort him, as Thor's long and messy locks in Avengers: Endgame (2019) also did the God of Thunder no favor.
3 Nick Fury: Liking Cats Too Much
Many cat owners would disagree since cats can be a human's best friend, just like dogs. That doesn't mean they're not dangerous, though. Especially if they're not really cats but alien species looking like cats that can eat many great things, their enemies included. Goose the Cat presents a serious competition even to baby Groot when it comes to the level of cuteness. However, Goose might be even deadlier than baby Groot, since the alien Flerken (as it's officially known) can dispatch its opponents easily.
Once Nick Fury learned what Goose was, he should have known better than to put his face anywhere near Goose's claws. Fury made the mistake of cuddling a cat that didn't want to be cuddled and paid for it with a loss of his eye. That was also the moment when Fury stopped trusting others. As he said years later, the last time he trusted someone, he lost an eye. Perhaps he should have petted a hamster or a dog instead, just to stay on the safe side.
2 Ego: Telling Peter He Killed His Mom
Even though Peter Quill last saw her mother years ago before she died, he still loved her and grieved her death. So his father Ego underestimated his son when he casually acknowledged that he had killed Peter's mom Meredith. That was the moment that Peter definitely turned against his father and used every trick in his book to defeat him.
It was a tough fight, one that wasn't without sacrifices (Yondu died to save Peter), but Ego was defeated in the end and Peter avenged his mom. As witnessed by Tony Stark's previous reaction in Captain America: Civil War (2016), hurting someone's mom in the MCU isn't a wise move, and it might be the last thing the villain ever does, as Tony also snapped when he learned that Bucky had killed his mom, Maria.
1 Peter Quill: Punching Thanos
It seems that the Guardians of the Galaxy aren't always capable of smart decisions. While it must have been satisfying for Peter to punch his almost-father-in-law after he learned that Thanos had killed Gamora, it had serious consequences for everyone. Mantis lost control over Thanos and the Mad Titan defeated the superheroes.
After that, there was no stopping Thanos from fulfilling his plan. If only Peter was able to keep his calm for a moment longer, none of it could have happened Then again, if Gamora was present and saw Peter punching Thanos, she no doubt would have been impressed by her partner's courage. So at the very least, Star-Lord can comfort himself with this knowledge.