First 10 Avengers, Ranked by Heroism

The Avengers are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and have been the planet’s number one line of defence since they first assembled to battle Loki. The team has been Marvel’s first and final line of defense against everything from common criminals to existential horrors that threatened to undo all of reality. While five heroes originally founded the Avengers, the team’s roster exploded in the years following, to the point where just about every Marvel hero has joined at some point. Of course, despite the insane roster size, the original Avengers still hold a special place in the superhero community, and that’s what we’re focusing on today.

The Avengers, as a whole, are meant to be the pinnacle of Marvel’s brand of heroism. Individually, however, its heroes’ morality can vary from as strong as adamantium to as flexible as rubber. We’re going to examine the first ten members of the Avengers and rank them by how well they hold to their heroic ideals. There’s no exact measure for heroism, but we’ll look at how the characters have handled themselves over the decades, and how they either hold to or lose themselves to their worst instincts when push comes to shove. With that said, let’s audit the Avengers’ histories.

10) Ant-Man

Hank Pym has one of the saddest character destructions in Marvel. He started as a normal scientist, but when having a mental breakdown during a run written by a man who profousely did not like him, he struck his wife. According to the writer and artist, this was meant to be him shoving Janet away, but the wife-beater label stuck. Nowadays, Ant-Man is a half-crazed man always on the edge of becoming a supervillain. Sometimes he’ll return to his heroic roots, but most of the time, he’s used like a ticking time bomb. Heck, he even once fused with Ultron after the robot claimed that he only hated humanity because Hank did. Hank, unfortunately, never threw off a label he never should have had.

9) Quicksilver

Ever since his debut, Quicksilver has been an arrogant man who put his own desires above those of others. He strives to be a champion to the downtrodden and innocent, but will also throw that aside to pursue petty revenge against people he thinks have wronged him. Most famously, he was the mastermind behind the House of M event and the one who ravaged the Inhumans by stealing their Terrigen. He can be a selfish, cowardly man who puts his wants above the sake of the world, but he’s also grown from that. More recently, Quicksilver has embarked on a journey of redemption and thrown aside his past, embracing the calling of a redeemed hero.

8) Hulk

Is Bruce Banner a hero? Undoubtedly. Is the Hulk a hero? That answer is a lot trickier. The Hulk always jumps between being a hero willing to stand up to any evil and a monster who revels in destruction. The Hulk is more of a concept than a single identity, especially with Banner’s multiple personalities always adapting to his scenario. The Savage Hulk that everyone knows and loves is good-natured more often than not, but he’s just as likely to smash everything in his path when he loses control. At his worst, the Hulk is a being of pure rage and death, and he’s been a villain innumerable times in Marvel’s history. The Hulk is a great hero, but he can be a terrifying villain just as often.

7) Scarlet Witch

Wanda has a very bad reputation. She’s best-remembered for causing the “Avengers Disassembled” and House of M storylines, and her descent to villainy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe certainly didn’t help. Wanda definitely suffers from lapses of insanity and rage, but more often than not, she’s manipulated by outside forces when she fights her friends. Most of the time, Wanda is a true hero, and that’s especially true in the modern day. She’s long since shed her villainous roots and embraced saving people above all. As the new Sorcerer Supreme, she’s doing everything she can to use magic to improve everyone’s lives.

6) Iron Man

Tony Stark can be a very vain, self-centered man. He’s spent his career as Iron Man working to atone for his greed and improve the world. Tony is someone that everyone in the superhero community has relied on at some point, and he’s practically one of its beating hearts. However, he’s definitely had his rough patches. Even ignoring his Superior Iron Man stint, when Tony was an alcoholic, he regularly endangered plenty of lives, and he was the face of the horrific Civil War event. Tony has been known to let his arrogance get the better of him, to the point where he rejects any opinion but his own. When you’re as smart and powerful as Iron Man, that stubbornness can have worldwide consequences.

5) Hawkeye

Clint Barton started as a hero for the fame, but he quickly devoted himself to fighting for what’s right above all else. He has one of the staunchest moral frameworks of any hero, holding himself to what many consider an impossible standard. Hawkeye is a light that cuts through darkness that would corrupt many other heroes, but he can also struggle with that very darkness. Clint has definitely let his anger get the better of him, and his career as the disillusioned Ronin had him acting as an anti-hero. Heck, in Hawkeye: Freefall, he embraced criminal actions for the greater good, which is definitely not superheroic. When he’s at his best, few compare to Hawkeye, but he can definitely fall.

4) Rick Jones

Rick Jones started as Hulk’s sidekick, then he was Cap’s new Bucky, and from there, he jumped all across the universe. Rick has helped or been a superhero in just about every corner in the Marvel Universe. He’s been joined with the original Captain Marvel, transformed into the gamma-powered A-Bomb, and even bonded to a lost symbiote. Rick is constantly reinventing himself, but what’s always consistent is that he fights for what he sees as right. He’s been inspired by the world’s greatest heroes and beyond, and he’s taken all of their best lessons to heart. Rick is the ultimate showcase of how heroes can impact us, and that includes making us into heroes of our own.

3) Thor

Thor Odinson started as an arrogant god who couldn’t care less for lives outside his own, but he’s matured into one of the most heroic people in Marvel. He’s a true warrior, always willing to lay down his life and soul for the sake of a single life. Thor has defied impossible odds and unrelenting forces to keep the realms safe. Only the worthy can lift Mjolnir, and Thor proves himself worthy of his heroic status day in and day out. There was a time when he lost faith in himself and was filled with rage, but he overcame that to come back better than ever. Even as a mortal man, Thor has proven that he will always do what’s right, even without infinite power. 

2) Wasp

The Wasp is the person who named the Avengers, so it’s heartening to see that she made it so high up on this list. She’s dealt with everything from an abusive husband to being trapped in the Microverse, but Janet has never let that stop her from fighting for what’s right. She’s been the Avengers’ heart since their inception, always guiding them and keeping them on the right path when they started to stray. She’s never fallen to the dark side like many of her compatriots, but instead has remained an optimistic bastion of everything the Avengers embody. Good things truly do come in small packages.

1) Captain America

Steve Rogers is more than the most heroic Avenger. He’s the pinnacle of heroism in Marvel, period. He fought evil in WWII, and when he was frozen, his legacy inspired half of Marvel’s other heroes. When he finally emerged from the ice in a world he didn’t understand, he didn’t waste any time going right back to what he’d always done: helping people. He’s the leader of the superhero community because everyone trusts him implicitly. When Captain America is on your side, you know that you’re doing what’s right. Steve Rogers has proven that he’s the purest soul in Marvel, and he won’t rest until everyone is safe and free from evil. That’s what being a hero is all about.

Which Avenger do you think is the most heroic? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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