The Avengers have become one of the most popular superhero teams ever, mostly thanks to the MCU. In the comics, sales aren’t always great but they have always been the world’s foremost defense force. The group combined the best heroes around and pit them against the most dangerous threats. However, in a world as dangerous as Earth-616, there’s only one thing that is better than one Avengers team – multiple Avengers teams. The original team was outstanding, but like the X-Men before them, diversifying has proven to be a step in the right direction. Over the decades, there have been many Avengers teams; not different rosters, but entirely different teams, ones with missions that the original team wouldn’t always be good for.
Videos by ComicBook.com
These new teams went in directions the original didn’t, sometimes bringing in heroes and villains who were some of the last people you’d expect to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Each of these teams have their various strengths, but some of them are way better than others. These are seven best Avengers teams that aren’t the original, groups that have lived up to their legendary name.
7) West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast
The 21st century has been lousy for the West Coast Avengers, with two failed reboots dragging their legacy down. However, that doesn’t change how great the group’s old school adventures were. Founded by Hawkeye and Mockingbird to give the West Coast some hero protection, classic Avengers like Iron Man, Wonder Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Hank Pym joined the West Coast Avengers over the years. It was War Machine’s first Avengers home and has given readers some excellent stories over the years. It would be nice if Marvel could make them work again, but until then, we have years of stories proving how great they are.
6) Secret Avengers
The Secret Avengers are the X-Force of the Avengers, the secret black ops team that takes on the dirtiest missions. The group was first brought together by Commander Steve Rogers during his tenure as Director of SHIELD and consisted of Nova, Black Widow, War Machine, Beast, Ant-Man III, Valkyrie, and Moon Knight. Down the road, heroes like Hawkeye, Captain Britain, Agent Venom, Thor, Vision, Captain Marvel I, and Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel would join as well. The group was an interesting subversion on the common Avengers team and it’s a shame that Marvel hasn’t found a way to make it work long term.
2) Dark Avengers
“Dark Reign” was a fantastic Marvel status quo, anchored by the awesomeness that was the Dark Avengers. This team was the baby of Norman Osborn, made Director of SHIELD after killing Skrull Empress Veranke in Secret Invasion. He took members of the Thunderbolts like Bullseye, Venom, and Moonstone, recruited Daken and Noh-Varr, and put them into the mantles of Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, and Captain Marvel respectively, with the Sentry and Ares as holdovers from the last team. He donned modified StarkTech armor and became the Iron Patriot, filling the Captain America/Iron Man role with the group. Watching the villains save the day while squabbling and trying to keep their power was a great change of pace for Avengers fans, giving them stories they never read before in their books.
4) New Avengers
The New Avengers made the team exciting again, after the publisher dropped the ball that Kurt Busiek had handed them with his stellar run on the group. As much as Marvel fans don’t like to hear it, the Avengers were created to be the Justice League, so putting their most popular heroes on it is a good idea, actually. The team took Avengers mainstays Captain America and Iron Man, added the two most popular Marvel heroes in Spider-Man and Wolverine, and stocked the rest of the team with B-listers with potential. This formula made the team white hot and led to some amazing adventures. While you can argue that not every story was great (the Bendis run is heavily praised, but most of them are the most boring Avengers stories you can imagine), the concept behind the team has legs.
3) Avengers Unity Squad
While mutants have been members of the Avengers, saying the team cares about the plight of mutants is incorrect. This came to a head in Avengers vs. X-Men and after that, Captain America decided it was time for a change. The Avengers Unity Squad was formed, combining members of both teams: Cap, Thor, Wasp, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Wolverine, Havok, Rogue, and Sunfire. The team faced off against Red Skull and the Apocalypse Twins, creating a new legend. Since then, there have been several more versions of the team that couldn’t hold a candle to the first roster (the Duggan-written teams aren’t great), but that doesn’t change how awesome an idea the team is and how great it can be with the right roster.
2) The Illuminati
The Illuminati first came together after the Kree-Skrull War, with Iron Man convincing Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Professor X, and Black Bolt that they needed to work together in secret to solve the problems they couldn’t in public. When the Incursions started, a new version of the group came together with Beast replacing Xavier and Captain America and Black Panther joining. They stopped the first Incursion, destroying the Infinity Gauntlet to do it, and had to mindwipe Cap because he wasn’t willing to go as far as they were and keep it all secret. This second version of the team had to figure out how to save the universe without committing too much genocide, and while they failed at that (saving the universe; they actually committed very little genocide, only some), their stories were amazing.
1) The Avengers Machine
Jonathan Hickman’s run on the Avengers introduced a new kind of Avengers team. At some point in the past, Captain America and Iron Man realized that the Avengers weren’t cutting it, so they decided to revolutionize the process, creating the Avengers Machine. This new philosophy behind the team brought together the most powerful heroes from across the Marvel Universe, creating the largest and most powerful Avengers team ever, one that could work as small groups of specially chosen heroes or as a whole. This roster changed the way the Avengers worked, making a nearly unstoppable superhuman army.
What’s your favorite Avengers team? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
