Who is the most connected figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Who is the person whose presence has influenced the most characters and events in the MCU? Such is a question that has long begged answering, and now that answer has come!

James O Malley over at Gizmodo UK conducted a search to find out which MCU character has the most connections to other characters, using the methodology of historians Ruth and Sebastian Ahnert, who recently measured social influencers of the 16th Century by counting mentions and references to individuals in letters of that era.

Using the Marvel Wiki's extensive count of character references and connections, O Malley counted the links between character pages to determine which character had the most links - i.e., the most connections or mentions in other areas of the MCU. Based on that information, an easy ranking system took shape, and some of the top picks may surprise you.

Here are the top 10 best connected characters in the MCU, along with how many connections they currently have:

Phil Coulson (135) Anthony Stark (95) Steven Rogers (80) Daisy Johnson (71) Melinda May (60) Nicholas Fury (58) Bruce Banner (56) Thor Odinson (55)* Grant Ward (55)* Peggy Carter (54)

All of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. main characters rank high, because that show has had the most installments of any property in the MCU, and was designed to sort of wander through the connective space of the movie universe, fleshing out details and deeper references and connections along the way.

Following that logic, It's not at all that surprising to see Phil Coulson topping the list. Coulson is in the unique position of having the benefit of being a major focus of Agents of SHIELD's longer format, and yet he also appeared in many of the early Phase I MCU films (Iron Man, Thor, Avengers) and so he met and influenced a lot of those major characters in ways that set up additional connections between them.

After Coulson, Iron Man, Captain America, and the other main AoS characters, you see the MCU movie bridge character Nick Fury coming in at no. 6, followed by the other Phase I stars, Hulk and Thor. It's all pretty obvious and logical when you think about it, but once you hit the dark horse surprise of Peggy Carter at no. 10, things get a lot more interesting. The full list is 108 characters long, so be sure to check it out at Gizmodo UK.

Numbers may tell one story, but who would you nominate as the "heart of the MCU?" Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Black Panther is now playing in theaters. Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27, 2018. It is followed by Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.