As a longtime Harry Potter fan, there's nothing quite so fun as taking a different franchise and sorting the characters into Hogwarts houses. One fandom where this has kind of been done to death is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since 2012 and earlier, these characters have put on the Sorting Hat and been sorted and resorted, because everyone has a different opinion about where each character belongs depending on who you ask. That being said, I do think there is a right answer to this question and for most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the conclusions I've come to will surprise you.

Before I get into this, in my research (and by research I mean re-watching every Marvel movie I could find at least once), I found something interesting: like the Harry Potter universe, there's a clear dichotomy between characters that are the loyal Slytherin and Hufflepuff and the idealistic Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. However, the good guys aren't where the Harry Potter series would put them, showing that the Marvel universe values loyalty and service far more than they do smarts and bravado. Without any further ado, here are the real Hogwarts houses for 25 Marvel characters, and the answers will surprise you!

25 Hawkeye - Hufflepuff

Hawkeye is a Hufflepuff because of how he prioritizes things. His whole thing is that he's going to be there for the people who need him most. We found out in Age of Ultron that he was a family man with a wife and children and he did everything for them. However, when the time came in Civil War to stand up with the Avengers, he left his family behind to do that, siding with Captain America and keeping an eye out for surrogate daughter Scarlet Witch. Out of all the original Avengers, Hawkeye really embodies the traditional Hufflepuff spirit of hard work. Keep in mind, he's a guy from the circus with a weapon from medieval times keeping up with super soldiers, billionaire geniuses, super-spies and more. That's dedication.

24 Scarlet Witch - Slytherin

Scarlet Witch is a Slytherin because she's about her people first, compared to someone like a Hufflepuff who's in it for everybody. When we're first introduced to her, her biggest priority is her brother. Then when Quicksilver is eliminated, she doesn't really have a focus until she grows closer to Hawkeye and Vision. During Infinity War, Scarlet Witch had the power to handle the Mind Stone and keep the world safe from Thanos, but she didn't because that meant killing Vision. That is in keeping with a huge tenet of Slytherin philosophy: your people are your people and you do not harm your people, even if it means the world burns for it.

23 Black Widow - Hufflepuff

Black Widow generally gets put in the Slytherin category, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, she's adaptable like a Slytherin, but to be honest, the reasons why she does things are explained by a Hufflepuff mindset. She doesn't join the side of good for ambition, she does it because she wants to wipe out her red ledger and serve the people. She chooses Iron Man's side over Captain America's not because she likes Iron Man better or her friends are there, she does it because Iron Man needed her and she thought the Sokovia Accords would help everyone as a whole even if it meant sacrificing her own privacy. As for Infinity War, she's a bit sidelined, but like any Hufflepuff, she's not there for the glory, she's there to get the job done.

22 Ant-Man - Ravenclaw

Scott Lang is a Ravenclaw because he's the type of man who can think critically about why something should be done. He thinks outside the box, totally willing to do things that he's been told are impossible in order to move forward. He's a bit impulsive and is motivated by personal relationships, so I could be argued into either Gryffindor or Slytherin for him, but to be honest, his ability to push the boundaries of what he should be able to do makes him a Ravenclaw in the best sense of the word. He's creative and smarter than most of the heroes and seems to know that wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.

21 The Wasp - Hufflepuff

The Wasp, aka Hope Van Dyne, is a Hufflepuff, believe it or not. She's not in this for power or glory, she just wants to follow the footsteps of her mother and help her father grow in his research. We don't know Hope especially well yet, but we do know that she's the kind of person who's going to try to be where she's needed rather than where she wants to be. Also, in a franchise where the female characters tend to bury their emotions and inner lives for whatever reason, Hope is a breath of fresh air because her heart is on her sleeve in that way. She becomes what the situation needs in a way that only a Hufflepuff can. On top of that, she embodies the qualities of the other three Hogwarts houses, so she would probably default to Hufflepuff because those things are not what sets her apart.

20 Black Panther - Gryffindor

One of the few heroic Gryffindors in the MCU franchise, Black Panther more than earns his spot here. He can be impulsive, but he's also motivated not necessarily by personal or community loyalty (although he's got that in spades too). Rather, he's motivated by a set of ideas that have been instilled within him. Those ideals weren't arrived at intellectually, but spiritually: T'Challa knows in his gut when something is right and something is wrong. More importantly, when he's wrong, he takes action to make it right. Those are qualities that could belong in every house, but the way he tends to charge into everything based on what he knows in his gut is right is a quality that belongs to Gryffindor.

19 Hulk/Bruce Banner - Ravenclaw

Both the Hulk and Bruce Banner are Ravenclaws. Bruce is a scientist with a scientist's mind: always challenging his ideals and ideas to come up with better ones. While Bruce's Hogwarts house is obvious, Hulk seems to have the charging spirit of a Gryffindor. That isn't really the case, though. We don't get to spend a ton of time with the Hulk by himself until Thor: Ragnarok, and we end up learning that the Hulk, when given time to learn, is actually quite intelligent and even witty. Even before that, his best moments are when he's motivated not by blind rage, but a specific goal he can put his skills towards achieving. Both seek freedom above all else. That's what makes both The Hulk and Bruce Banner Ravenclaws, and it's also what gives them so much potential as a team.

18 Thor - Hufflepuff

Thor is a Hufflepuff through and through, While he'd probably also fit in really well with the Gryffindors, he's a Hufflepuff because of his motivations. His value system seems to be based on helping people rather than upholding certain ideals, which would put him in a house that values loyalty over ideals like Hufflepuff or Slytherin. That being said, personal loyalty means less to him because he's more focused on helping everybody, which means he's definitely not a Slytherin. Process of elimination would put him in Hufflepuff at that point. He's a good fit for Hufflepuff House because his whole journey has been about realizing that he's more than his hammer and more than his Asgardian heritage, and it's that quality that allows him to be such a good protector of Midgard.

17 Loki - Slytherin

There wasn't really a debate about Loki being in Slytherin, but he's not here because of his penchant for chaos or his comfort with villainous acts. He's here because of his motivations: personal loyalty. No matter what he's doing, he's doing it with his biggest priority in mind, his brother Thor. His actions in the first Avengers movie show the worst parts of Slytherin: the revenge-seeking, the obsession with being recognized, the flaunting of his privilege as a god among humans. As he grows as a character, he comes to embody the very best parts of Slytherin House: putting yourself on the line for someone you love, adaptability in the face of very long odds, and the ability to recognize and put your faith in someone who deserves it.

16 Iron Man - Slytherin

Tony Stark tends to be classified as either a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin depending on who you're talking to, but we are here to settle this debate right now: he's a Slytherin through and through. He actually has more in common with Gryffindor than he does with Ravenclaw because of how he tends to charge into situations that might be over his head, like jumping onto a spaceship to Titan without knowing how he'd get back. However, it's why he does things that makes him a Slytherin, plus his ambition and clear destiny for greatness. He's not fighting because it's the right or smart thing, or because the world needs him. He's fighting for his people, like Pepper Potts and Peter Parker.

15 Vision - Hufflepuff

Vision is a Hufflepuff with a Ravenclaw way of doing things. He's incredibly intelligent, taking after his parents Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, not to mention the Mind Stone. However, he's motivated by helping people. Sure, he tends to prioritize Scarlet Witch over everybody else because that's the love of his very short life, but when he has to choose between being happy with her or letting her kill him so Thanos doesn't get the Mind Stone, the choice is clear for him: the world is more important than just one person. It's for this reason that Vision belongs in Hufflepuff.

14 War Machine/ James Rhodes - Hufflepuff

War Machine is a Hufflepuff because he doesn't care about doing things for the glory, he cares about getting things done so people will be safe. It's this nature that allows him to be such a good friend to Tony: he's able to remind Tony why they're all there in the suits in the first place. War Machine tends to be in the background for a lot of things, not really doing too much when it comes to a storyline of his own, but he's there to help, not for that so much. Perhaps he'll get his day in the sun after Avengers: Endgame, but to be honest, he seems like the type who would want to just keep doing his thing.

13 Dr. Strange - Ravenclaw

Dr. Strange would be a good candidate for Slytherin because of his ambition, but Slytherin probably wouldn't help his early issues with arrogance. Ravenclaw, however, would be the Hogwarts house he would need to achieve true greatness. Dr. Strange thinks outside the box, willing to make huge gambles that he knows logically will play out. When he saves Tony on Titan from Thanos, he doesn't do it because he cares about Tony or because saving Tony would help the most people, he saves Tony because he intellectually worked things out with his skill-set and determined that this was the thing to do. He didn't make this decision via gut feeling like a Gryffindor would: if anything this decision flew in the face of all his priorities because he gave up the Time Stone and broke his vows to do that. He challenged his own beliefs and went with his mind, which is Ravenclaw to the core.

12 Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Gryffindor

Unlike Tony Stark and Dr. Strange, who were fighting Thanos to help the people they care about or to protect something important from him, Peter Parker, one of the rare heroic Gryffindors, was there because his gut and Spidey sense told him he had to be there. He tends to charge into situations that he probably shouldn't because he has a sense of purpose. He's also motivated by doing the right thing more than he is by personal loyalties like a Slytherin (a Slytherin would have probably remained with the high school team he was on in Homecoming rather than breaking away to be Spider-Man because those are his people at that moment), and he tends to want to circumvent the hard road, which isn't really a Hufflepuff's style. This puts Peter squarely in Gryffindor. I could argue that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's respective Spidermen might belong there as well.

11 Deadpool - Hufflepuff

Deadpool is actually a Hufflepuff in the comics and far be it from me to argue with the comics. That being said, Deadpool being a Hufflepuff is about far more than comic canonicity, it's about everything he does, really. He has superpowers thrust upon him while he's trying to get better from an illness and isn't really in his field for the prestige or power, he's just there because he wants to be. He makes friends really easily considering his situation and even despite it, and you can see easily that he's a nice guy. He's personable in a more Hufflepuff way: he wants to help out and have fun and make people happy.

10 Captain America/Steve Rogers - Slytherin

Captain America is a Slytherin and if there's any sorting that I will literally fight someone about, it's this one. Captain America is such a Slytherin, I can't imagine how he could be anything else. He doesn't earn his way into the military in his first movie, he cons his way in with fake paperwork. He had a goal and didn't care what rules he broke to get it as long as he got it. Everything he does tends to be for Bucky: when Bucky is in danger, Steve Rogers tends to be in the wind. He put personal loyalty to Bucky over the Avengers and his higher purpose, torpedoing his relationship with fellow Slytherin Tony Stark in the process. Without his people, Captain America literally ceases to be Captain America. Even his nice exterior is a part of his Slytherin makeup: he'll drop it in a hot second if he needs to. He's such a Slytherin it actually hurts. I will die on this hill, guys.

9 Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier - Hufflepuff

Bucky is a Hufflepuff in almost everything he does. He's the voice of reason, like many Hufflepuffs tend to be, who makes sure his friends (read: Steve Rogers) don't get killed doing something stupid. As the Winter Soldier, he's not really motivated by any will of his own, but as Bucky heals from everything that happened to him, we see a man quietly working to help humanity, who expands his circle in a way that Slytherin Captain America actually never does. Bucky is loyal not to specific people (although there's some of that, too), he's loyal to everybody: if any Avenger needed him, he would be there. Bucky, despite how he's introduced in the second Captain America movie, is more than the Winter Soldier and the more he sheds that identity, the more Hufflepuff he becomes.

8 Falcon/Sam Wilson - Gryffindor

Falcon is a Gryffindor and one of the rare heroic Gryffindors in this franchise. Unlike War Machine, who seems content to do the background work and stay out of the spotlight while still being in the crew, Falcon does seem to have a taste for glory, which is a Gryffindor trait. On top of that, Falcon seems to have a core set of values that would make standing with Captain America easy for him. More importantly, it doesn't seem to matter to him that Steve Rogers is driven by Slytherin motivations of personal loyalty because of his own values: he doesn't need to be Captain America's one true best friend to stand with him because he knows what the right things are without that.

7 Peter Quill/Starlord - Slytherin

I know we're all mad at him for what he did in Infinity War, but it's time for Slytherin House to come collect their boy. Peter Quill might be even more of a Slytherin than Steve Rogers, to be honest, When Rocket asks why they need to save the galaxy, Peter doesn't respond that it's the right thing to do or because the world needs, he responds that they have to because THEY live in the galaxy and that's a dumb question. His actions in Infinity War, even the ones where he tries to show up Thor, are motivated by Slytherin qualities. He tries to shoot Gamora because that's his person and she told him to, and he has to overcome his own loyalty to do that. He loses it on Thanos at the worst possible time because Gamora was his person and she (and the other Guardians) is worth more to him than the galaxy. That's a Slytherin trait.

6 Gamora - Slytherin

Gamora was actually kind of a toss-up between a couple of houses, but Infinity War placed her firmly in Slytherin for me. She's not motivated by glory, ideals, or anything else, she's motivated by her chosen family, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nebula manages to get back into her inner circle as well. Outside of them, her loyalty to people seems to end. More than anything she wants them safe from Thanos and alive, and she also has the ambition to kill Thanos herself for what was done to her and Nebula. When she has to choose between keeping the world safe by not revealing the soul stone and ending the pain for Nebula, she chooses Nebula, not unlike the way Starlord chose her over stopping Thanos and Loki chose Thor over staying alive and with Thanos. She's a great example of how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is actually promoting Slytherin values over Gryffindor ones, the ones that were idealized in Harry Potter.