Let's be real. If you’re playing Lego Marvel Avengers, you aren't just there for the story. You're there to break things, build things, and—most importantly—become an absolute god of Stud collection. That’s where the Lego Marvel Avengers red bricks come in. They are the ultimate game-changers. Without them, you're just grinding. With them? You’re basically Thanos with a full Gauntlet, minus the genocidal tendencies.
But here is the thing that trips people up. Unlike the older Lego games where you could just stumble upon these in the main levels, this game ties them specifically to the Collector’s missions. You can't just smash a random trash can in Manhattan and hope for the best. You have to find The Collector, do his dirty work, and then—and only then—can you buy the brick from the Shield Helicarrier.
Where Most People Get Stuck
Most players assume they can just speedrun the campaign and unlock everything. Nope. You’ve got to head into Free Play. The Red Bricks are scattered across the 15 story levels and the 12 additional "DLC-style" or bonus levels, but they only trigger when you find The Collector standing around like a weirdo in a specific spot. He’ll ask for an item. You find it. You give it back. Simple, right? Not always.
Some items require specific characters. You might need someone with Telekinesis like Scarlet Witch or a character who can handle Toxic Gas. If you try to hunt these down before you’ve unlocked a diverse roster, you’re just going to give yourself a headache.
Take the "A Force of Nature" level, for example. You’re looking for a tea set. Yes, a tea set. The Collector is hidden behind a magnetic gate near the start. If you don't have a character like Magneto or Polaris, you’re just staring at a wall. This is why I always tell people: Finish the story first. Don't even look at a Red Brick until you have a flier, a tech expert, and a strongman in your permanent character grid.
The Multipliers: Why Your Stud Count Is Low
Honestly, the only reason anyone cares about Lego Marvel Avengers red bricks initially is the Stud Multipliers. The economy in this game is punishingly expensive if you're trying to buy every vehicle and character.
- x2 Multiplier: Found in the "Stark Tower" level. This is your baseline. Without this, you're basically working for minimum wage.
- x6 Multiplier: This is in the "Shakespeare in the Park" level. To get it, you need to find a hot dog. Because of course the Collector wants a hot dog while the Avengers are fighting Loki.
- x10 Multiplier: The holy grail. Located in "Lost in the Aether."
Here’s a trick most people overlook. These multipliers stack. If you have the x2, x4, x6, x8, and x10 bricks all turned on at the same time, your multiplier isn't just a simple addition. It’s multiplicative. You end up with a x3840 multiplier. At that point, picking up a single purple stud gives you more money than Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark have combined. It’s ridiculous. It breaks the game. And it’s wonderful.
The Utility Bricks You Actually Need
While everyone chases the money, the utility bricks are the ones that actually make the gameplay feel smooth.
Attract Studs is non-negotiable. You’ll find this in the "Avengers Assemble" level. Without it, you have to manually walk over every single coin. With it, you're a stud magnet. It saves hours of tedious cleanup.
Then there’s the Fast Build brick from "The A-Train" level. Lego games have those moments where you have to hold a button for ten seconds while your character slowly puts pieces together. Fast Build makes it instant. It sounds small, but in a game this big, those ten-second windows add up to massive amounts of saved time.
Navigating the Collector’s Requests
The Collector is a picky guy. In the "Railroad Hydra" level, he wants a mask. In "Earth's Mightiest," he wants a card. It’s basically a cosmic scavenger hunt.
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One thing that genuinely annoys me is how the game doesn't always track these clearly. You find him, he tells you what he wants, but if you switch characters or get distracted by a combat encounter, it’s easy to lose the thread. Keep an eye out for the white exclamation mark icon on your mini-map. That's usually your indicator that a Collector quest is active in that specific area of the level.
If you're hunting the Red Brick Detector (found in "Lack of Insight"), get it early. It puts a little arrow on your screen pointing to the Red Brick locations. It’s almost like cheating, but considering how cluttered some of these Marvel environments are, it's a sanity-saver.
How to Actually Activate Them
This is the "tech support" part of the article because people ask this constantly. You’ve found the item. You’ve given it to the Collector. The game says "Red Brick Unlocked." You look at your stud count. Nothing has changed.
You have to buy them. Go to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Go down to the lower decks into the Collector’s Room. There’s a terminal there. You have to spend Studs to actually "turn on" the ability to use the brick. Once purchased, you then have to go into your pause menu, hit "Extras," and toggle them to On.
Remember: every time you restart the game, you have to turn them back on. They don't stay active by default. It's a weird quirk of the Lego engine that has persisted for years, and it's just as annoying now as it was in 2012.
The Most "Fun" Red Bricks
Once you've got the multipliers and the detectors, you can move into the weird stuff.
- Big Head Mode: Classic. Found in the "No Strings on Me" level. It makes everyone look like Funko Pops.
- Festive Hats: Everyone gets Santa hats. It’s found in the "Rise of Ultron" level.
- Stan Lee in Peril Detector: This is actually useful. Stan Lee is everywhere in this game, and finding all 50 versions of him is the only way to unlock him as a playable character. This brick (found in "Avengers World") makes that hunt infinitely easier.
Common Misconceptions
People often think you can use cheat codes to get the 100% completion credit for Red Bricks. You can't. While there are codes to unlock the effects (like the multipliers), they don't count toward your "Bricks Collected" stat in the Collector’s Room. If you want that Platinum trophy or the 1000/1000 Gamerscore, you have to do the legwork. You have to find the Collector. No shortcuts.
Also, don't confuse the Red Bricks with the Gold Bricks. Gold Bricks are rewards for finishing tasks; Red Bricks are the "cheats" you buy. There are only 25 Red Bricks in total.
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Actionable Strategy for Completionists
If you want to be efficient, follow this order. Don't just wander around.
First, power through the main story. Don't worry about the bricks yet. You won't have the characters to get them anyway. Second, go back to "Stark Tower" in Free Play and grab the x2 Multiplier. Then go to "Avengers Assemble" for the Attract Studs.
With those two active, your wealth will grow exponentially while you play the rest of the levels. By the time you reach the "Lost in the Aether" level to get the x10 Multiplier, you’ll actually have the millions of studs required to buy it.
Once you have the big multipliers, the rest of the game becomes a victory lap. You can buy every character in the shop, unlock every vehicle, and finally see that 100% counter tick up. It’s a grind, but it’s a rewarding one once the pieces start falling into place.
Focus on the Collector’s Room on the Helicarrier as your home base. Check that terminal often to see what you've unlocked and what’s still missing. If a brick is grayed out, you haven't found the Collector in that level yet. If it’s visible but locked, you just need more money. And in this game, money is just a matter of hitting enough Lego benches with a x10 multiplier active.
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Make sure you have a character with Cosmic Powers (like Captain Universe or Korvac) and someone with Digging abilities (like Moon Knight or Reptil) before you do your final sweep. Some of those Collector items are buried deep or hidden behind cosmic bricks that standard Avengers can't touch. Plan your character swap grid before you enter the level to save yourself from having to quit and restart because you forgot a specific ability.