7 Most Powerful Avengers Marvel Did Nothing With

The Avengers have a very important legacy in the Marvel Universe. The team combines the publisher’s greatest characters, bringing them together to face the biggest threats. The team’s roster combines two different types of heroes: big name characters with their own books and B and C-list heroes. While we all love characters like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and the other characters who have their own books, the lower-level characters are often the main reason to read Avengers books. They’re the ones who get the cool character development, and many of them have grown into the A-listers themselves, like Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and the Vision.

Over the years, the Avengers have introduced readers to some amazing and powerful character, making them more popular than they had ever been before. However, Marvel has dropped the ball with a lot of these heroes. These seven powerful Avengers could have been something special, but Marvel has never been able to capitalize on their Avengers popularity.

7) Luke Cage

New Avengers was a pretty overrated comics at times, but it did help remind readers that Marvel’s ’70s Bronze Age characters were great, including Luke Cage. Luke Cage rose to leadership of the New Avengers and later the Thunderbolts, but after that, Marvel has never really been able to make him into a solo star. Luke Cage usually appeared in books with his former partner Iron Fist or teams like the Defenders. While he has become mayor of New York City, Luke Cage should have been made into a solo star. He has a cool supporting cast, and was an A-list Avengers for almost decade. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t have been given his own successful series.

6) Sersi

Sersi is an Eternal, armed with the standard Eternal powers of super strength, flight, invulnerability, and energy powers. Sersi also had matter manipulating powers, making her a pretty formidable hero. She joined the Avengers in the early ’90s, which wasn’t what anyone would call a popular time for the Avengers. Sersi was exactly the kind of powerhouse that could shine on the Avengers, and while no one would confuse early to mid ’90s Avengers with the best Avengers stories of all-time, it was still pretty good. Sersi was one of the most important characters of the run, especially when “The Proctor Saga” began. Sersi has never really had a chance to shine. She’s has always been relegated to the “girlfriend” role, but she’s always deserved better than that.

5) Hercules

Hercules is the Prince of Power, and one of the most powerful Avengers of all time. Hercules basically has infinite strength and has joined the Avengers numerous times to give it divine muscle. The demi-god is known for his lust for life, and Hercules loves to party, to fight, and to love. However, Hercules is usually just played as the Thor stand-in when he’s on the Avengers. Hercules is one of those characters that Marvel will dust off every now and again, give him a half-hearted try, and then abandon him after not doing anything interesting with him. Hercules has always had the potential to be a better character, but as long as Marvel makes him into Thor-lite, he will never shine.

4) Cannonball

Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run was fantastic, and introduced numerous new characters into the Avengers mythos. Hickman brought in some members that had never been considered for the Avengers before, like Cannonball. Cannonball is mostly known for his time in the New Mutants, X-Force, and the X-men, having mastered his kinetic blasting powers to the extent that he was able to defeat the powerful Gladiator. Cannonball was awesome throughout the run, marrying Smasher and having a child, but since then Marvel has done nothing with him. Even in the Krakoa era, he barely made any appearances. Cannonball is a character that Marvel seems the drop the ball with every time they push him, and it’s a shame because he’s been around for over 40 years now and should be an A-list character.

3) Smasher

Smasher was the first human member of the Shi’Ar Empire’s Imperial Guard, earning her spot because of her heroism with the Avengers. Much like her husband Cannonball, Smasher kind of dropped out of the Marvel Universe after her marriage, which is pretty weird. Smasher got her own spotlight issue of Avengers and everything, and her rise to the Imperial Guard played an important role in the book. However, Hickman seemed to not really have much for her to do as time went on, and since then she’s barely even appeared anywhere in the Marvel Universe. Smasher could have been the next big Marvel heroine, but the publisher seemed to lose all interest in her.

2) Captain Universe

Captain Universe is well-known to knowledgeable Marvel fans. The Enigma Force is a powerful fount of cosmic energy that many heroes have wielded, all of them becoming Captain Universe at times. However, Hickman introduced a new version of the character that was the most intriguing yet. This Captain Universe was a woman in coma named Tamara, and the Enigma Force was revealed to the very personification of the universe itself. She joined the Avengers to help save the universe from the Incursions and did some amazing things as an Avenger. However, she also faded away as the series went on and completely disappeared. This new version of Captain Universe had loads of potential, and the fact that Marvel never figured out how to use her is a shame.

1) Hyperion of Earth-13034

Hickman created one of the most powerful Avengers rosters ever, and a big part of that was Hyperion. Hyperion is well-known to hardcore Marvel fans, a Superman pastiche that readers have met in numerous alternate universe. This Hyperion was from Earth-13034, and was pulled away from his Earth as it was destroyed during the Incursions by AIM. He eventually joined the Avengers and became one of the team powerhouses, making friends with Thor, and helping battle the Beyonders before 2015’s Secret Wars in “Time Runs Out”. However, he’s vanished since then, with the only Hyperions showing up being from other universes. This is the best version of Hyperion and Marvel could do so much with him, but he’s been gone for over a decade and it looks like he’s never coming back.

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