Comic books fantasy is often about creating a niche and owning it, The top heroes are generally owners of their niche.Being number two is nice but number one is the place you want to be. I have always cringed when Mr Terrific is introduced as the "third smartest man in DC" and yeah yes in away it establish a niche for him in comic book world as smart character but it also knocks the character down a peg at the same time. So all of that to say where a character ?seen in a world does have some importance.
Which bring us to main part many characters have build their names and popularity on these roles "Thor is generally seen as the most powerful Marvel superhero" "Hulk is seen as the Strongest" "Reed Richards is seen as smartest" " Captain America greatest leader" etc. And for many years they have held these roles in stories and play those roles in big stories so beyond being just attached to character it feels like it might be tied to core of what Marvel is to some fans
1. Do you think the tiers should ever change? Example Iron Man was very smart character at the beginning but he seem like a generalist being smart in the area of robotics and tech. As Iron Man grew in popularity,his role in stories changed and he got more and more feats of genius. To point today you could make an argument for him being the smartest man in Marvel.
2. Should there ever be a clear top character in a universe anything? Or do you like when more characters have a chance at being the top guy? Example the best hand to hand fighter in Marvel varies from Shang chi ,Iron Fist, Captain America or Black Panther( and couple more quite honestly.)
3. What gets you to accept a change? Is when Marvel goes "Moon Girl is the smartest character in Marvel"? Do you need to see couple of feats? Is it more over time you have earn your dues like say Iron Man did?
Final thought these question came up to me as I noticed people complaining about Captain Marvel being too powerful in the MCU especially in comparison Thor. It felt a little weird because they are other being around more powerful than Thor so it isn't out of realm of possibility someone can be more powerful . I feel like there is good discussion to be had here.