The Avengers have had a roller coaster ride of popularity over their decades of existence. Nowadays, they’re one of the most popular superteams around because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – but it wasn’t always that way. The rise of the X-Men in the late ’70s began the slow fall of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. There were some great stories in the ’80s, but the X-Men still sold better, and by the ’90s, The Avengers were very much behind mutants in terms of popularity. The ’90s were a time of ups and downs for the Avengers. It started well, then the team cratered in the middle of the decade, and finally ended strong in 1998 and 1999.
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However, even in the years of its fall, the Avengers still had some very cool members. These members of the team are all extremely underrated and made the mid-decade pretty cool. These seven underrated Avengers were great, and it’s time to remember why.
7) Justice
The New Warriors were supposed to be Marvel’s next generation, but only two members of the team were able to graduate to the big show. Justice, a telekinetic mutant that started his career as Marvel Boy, joined the Avengers during the amazing Kurt Busiek/George Perez run on the book’s “Heroes Return” reboot, along with his girlfriend, Firestar.
Justice’s dream was to join the team, and he made good on that. He was the wide-eyed young hero living his fantasy, and he was awesome every time he was on the page. Justice faded away from the team as Busiek’s run went on, replaced by more popular members, but he was a breath of fresh air in the early stages of the run.
6) Firestar
Firestar was a pyrokinetic mutant and former member of the New Warriors, who joined the Avengers with her boyfriend at the time, Justice. She was basically dragged along to the team, only joining it to be with him, but it was a good thing she joined the group. Her powers started to kill her, and she had to wear a special costume created by the Avengers’ big brains to save her.
Firestar was a powerful Avenger, and her reluctance towards being on the team made her an interesting addition to the group. It also showed that she could soar on an A-list team, proving to fans that Firestar had the goods.
5) White Vision
VisionQuest will star the White version of Vision, but ’90s Avengers readers got to spend a lot of time with the character prior. The Vision went mad and tried to take over the world in the ’80s, forcing the Avengers to stop him. He was eventually rebuilt in a new white body, sans his emotions.
He rejoined the team and became the Spock of the group. He was cold and emotionless, and the way he dealt with his old friends engendered a lot of drama in the stories. He was still one of the most powerful members of the group, and it was interesting to watch this new version of the classic Avenger. The white Vision is an interesting evolution of a character, his logic and power making him an exciting figure on the page whenever he showed up.
4) Hercules
Hercules joined the Avengers in the ’80s, acting as the muscle of the group alongside Thor. He stayed on the team in the ’90s, and as the heavy hitters like Thor and Iron Man left the group, he became one of the more powerful members during what has been called the Leather Jacket Era of the team. The demi-god is one of the most fun characters in the Marvel Universe, and he added that to an era of the team that had a paucity of big stars.
He was a little darker in the ’90s, willing to do what it took to save the day, and it was a nice change of pace from the happy-go-lucky Hercules we were used to. Plus, Avengers artist Steve Epting drew an amazing version of the character. He got rid of the facial hair and changed his hairstyle, making him one of the best-looking Avengers in an era without many stars.
3) Crystal
The Inhumans have always been a tough sell, but Marvel has certainly tried. For a long time, the most popular Inhuman was Crystal. She dated Human Torch, hung out with the Fantastic Four, then got with Quicksilver, got married, and had a child. The two of them separated, and she joined the Avengers.
Crystal would enter into a love triangle with Black Knight and Sersi, giving readers some fun drama that they didn’t expect from the book. Her dealing with her issues with the men in her life was a cool little wrinkle for a comic that wasn’t exactly burning up the sales charts. On top of that, her elemental powers made her one of the team’s heaviest hitters. Crystal’s time in the Avengers is often forgotten, but her run was way better than any other Inhuman who joined the team.
2) Black Knight
Black Knight is one of Marvel’s forgotten greats, a character who rarely lived up to the potential he had. He joined the Avengers in the ’80s, mostly hanging out in the background of the group, but would take a more active role in the team in the ’90s. In “Operation: Galactic Storm”, the wielder of the Ebon Blade was the one who killed the Supreme Intelligence and was positioned as the most important member of the team in the Leather Jacket Era. He was in a love triangle and ended up battling an alternate reality version of himself in “The Proctor Saga”.
He played well with all of the members of the team (at the time) and was a great hero in the mold of Captain America. In fact, he was basically the Captain America of the team during this period, leading the group in battle and forming the nucleus of the book. No one remembers Black Knight that much, and it’s a shame: his era was awesome.
1) Sersi
Sersi wasn’t the first Eternal to join the group (that was Gilgamesh the Forgotten One in the abysmal Avengers #300), but she was the best. She was one of the most powerful members of the team; her super strength, indestructibility, cosmic energy control, and flight made her a heavy hitter; however, her greatest powers were her matter manipulation abilities.
Sersi was a focus of the team throughout the Leather Jacket Era, and I became a huge fan of her. She got her awesome red and black costume during this time, which looked amazing with her Avengers leather jacket, and was positioned to be a star. Of course, Avengers wasn’t exactly widely read during her tenure, so it wasn’t going to happen, but we could hope. Sersi is another forgotten Avenger, and I would love to see her rejoin the group.
Who are your favorite ’90s Avengers? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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Image courtesy of Paramount+
