Every Original Avenger Ranked By Power

The Avengers weren’t Marvel Comics’ first superhero team, but they were the team that became known as the all-star group in the comic book line. While the Fantastic Four was a family who gained superpowers, the Avengers were a team formed to fight a threat bigger than any one hero. In this case, it was the Hulk, or at least the heroes thought it was the Hulk. With young Rick Jones’ help, the heroes realized the Hulk wasn’t the real villain and instead it was the Asgardian god of mischief, Loki. By the end, the heroes decided to stick together, with Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Wasp even convincing Hulk to join the group.

It should be noted that Captain America was not one of the original Avengers, as the team found him thawed, and he joined up in Avengers #4. With that said, here are the five original Avengers members, ranked by power.

5) Wasp

Wasp was the only female member of the original Avengers, and sadly, she wasn’t treated very well over the first few years of the comic books. She was always shown to be a materialistic and flighty hero who was more concerned with shopping, fashion, and swooning over the male heroes like Thor. It wasn’t until years later that she was finally treated with respect as a powerful hero on the team.

She was, at the time they formed, Ant-Man’s sidekick and used his Pym Particles to shrink down and shoot her stinger blasts at heroes. It wasn’t until years later that she proved to be one of the best Avengers leaders of all time, and that proved to be her most extraordinary power, as her superhero powers were always a bit underwhelming.

4) Ant-Man

Ant-Man was only slightly more powerful than Wasp, and it had nothing to do with their superpowers. Both had the power to shrink using Pym Particles, and they both could communicate with ants, although Ant-Man was a little more proficient in that. Neither were very powerful, and their stinger blasts were only somewhat effective, although they did pack a punch when shrunk down.

However, what ranks Hank Pym over his future wife was his intelligence. Next to Tony Stark, there might not be a more brilliant member of the Avengers than the original Ant-Man, and his inventions were easily his most significant contributions to the team. His inventions were also his most dangerous contributions because he built Ultron.

3) Iron Man

Iron Man was already one of Marvel’s strongest characters before the Avengers formed. He was a brilliant scientist who built his suit of armor and implemented plenty of weapons into it. Over the years, he has just become more powerful as he kept upgrading his Iron Man armors until they were able to do pretty much anything he could dream up.

His armor when the team formed was already strong, as he was able to take a punch and could shoot some powerful blasts. However, as the years have rolled on, Iron Man has become one of the most dangerous heroes in Marvel Comics and can go toe-to-toe with almost anyone, although he still falls below some of the universe’s heavy hitters, including two other original Avengers members.

2) Thor

Thor proved at one point that Iron Man couldn’t touch him when he wasn’t holding back. This came after the Civil War storyline, when Iron Man tried to force Thor to sign the Superhero Registration Act, and Thor let Iron Man know what he thought of him using a clone of him to kill one of their friends. Thor fought Iron Man and destroyed his former Avengers teammate without breaking a sweat, leaving him broken and beaten.

Thor was even powerful when the Avengers first formed, and he was one of the most powerful original members of the team then. As an Asgardian god, it was his brother Loki who forced the heroes to team up for the first time, and Thor was always more powerful than his brother, which showed why the Avengers have always been better with Thor than without him.

1) Hulk

There is a really good reason Hulk didn’t last more than a couple of issues before he quit the Avengers. The storyline reason was that the Avengers didn’t trust him, so Hulk wanted nothing to do with them as a result. However, the real reason is that Hulk was too overpowered to be part of this team, and the Avengers with Hulk as a member meant that no villains could ever really match up to them as a threat.

Hulk is neck-to-neck with Thor as the most powerful Earth-based character in Marvel Comics, and Hulk has proven to be able to beat Thor more than once. Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets, so while he and Thor match up well, the longer the fight goes on, the more unbeatable Hulk becomes. Marvel has shown that Hulk could end up as the last living being on Earth, making him not only the original Avengers’ most powerful member, but the strongest in Marvel Comics as well.

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