Since 1963, the Avengers have been proving why they deserve the appellation “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. Creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby weren’t the first creators to come up with the idea of bringing together all of a publisher’s heroes into one book (that was DC’s Gardner Fox in the Golden Age), but they found a way to make it work in new ways. From there, many of the greatest creators in the history of the comic industry worked with Marvel‘s biggest team, giving readers action epics unlike anything they’d ever seen. Once the group made the jump to the big screen, they became the most popular team of heroes in the world, showing everyone just how awesome they are as a concept.
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The Avengers have been the bestselling superhero team on the market and they’ve been the worst, but they’ve always given readers adventures that were truly epic. Marvel has published some great stories over the decades, and the team has given them some of the best. These ten Avengers stories are the best in Marvel history, a veritable cornucopia of awesome superhero action.
10) “The Kang Dynasty”
The ’00s had some excellent Avengers stories, but the best of them was “The Kang Dynasty”, by Kurt Busiek, Alan Davis, and Kieron Dwyer. This story ended Busiek’s run on book with a bang, as one of the group’s greatest enemies returned with a fiendish plot to take over the world. Kang is able to triumph over the heroes, finally becoming the ruler of the world, with the only hope for freedom being the Avengers. Kang is one of Marvel’s most unsung villains and this story shows why he can be so great. This is everything a story starring the team should be, an action-packed epic with brilliant writing and incredible art.
9) Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 1) #6-22
The ’10s were a great time for the Avengers, especially that period after Avengers vs. X-Men. The Avengers Unity Squad was created in Uncanny Avengers, and they faced their greatest challenge in issues #6-22, by Rick Remender, Daniel Acuna, Adam Kubert, and Steve McNiven. The Apocalypse Twins are unleashed on the Avengers by Kang, as a way for him to finally take over the world and destroy the Avengers. However, the Twins have their own plans and it will take everything the Unity Squad has to win. Unfortunately, they’re missing the one thing they truly need: unity. This story is told over the course of three story arcs, an epic that will wow you with its scope and action. Great writing combines with excellent art for a story you won’t want to miss.
8) Avengers: Twilight
Avengers: Twilight is a perfect Avengers story. The tale, by Chip Zdarsky and Daniel Acuna, opens up in a future where the team was outlawed after H-Day, when their most deadly villains launched an attack on the world. Superheroes are outlawed, and the government becomes more and more fascistic. Captain America is recruited by Luke Cage to fight back, and the hero decides that the best way to win is to bring back the Avengers. Unfortunately, the son of Iron Man and the Wasp and a heretofore unknown relative of the Avengers’ butler Jarvis have their own plans, ones that will bring back the world’s worst villain. Zdarsky does a fantastic job of using real world politics in this one, giving readers a superhero epic that feels prescient. Acuna’s art is fantastic, and it gives this book the Kingdom Come feel that its story is going for.
7) Avengers Forever (Vol. 1)
Avengers Forever, by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, and Carlos Pacheco, is a story that every fan of the team needs to read. Rick Jones, The Wasp, and Giant-Man are teamed up with a group of Avengers from the past and future — super strong Captain America from the late ’70s, Captain Marvel III and Songbird from the future, Yellowjacket Hank Pym, and Hawkeye during his weird costume/Pym Particles phase — along with the villain Libra and the Supreme Intelligence to stop the machinations of Immortus and Those Who Remain. Cross time shenanigans ensue, Kang shows up, and fans get an epic unlike any another team could give them. The story digs into the snarls of Avengers history, fixing some major problems, all while giving readers an excellent tale. The late Pacheco’s art is outstanding; he was born for stories like this, giving readers, detailed, fluid action and amazing figure work. It’s the total package, and never fails to impress.
6) “Time Runs Out”
“Time Runs Out” is the last major story of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers run. The world has discovered the Incursions and what the Illuminati has been doing to stop them. As one group of Avengers hunts down the Illuminati, another group decides to search for the origins of the multiverse-destroying event and do their best to end it before time runs out. The whole time, Doctor Doom is out there, making his own plans to save all of creation. Hickman works with a veritable army of artists in this spectacular epic, like Mike Deodato, Stefano Caselli, Kev Walker, and more, giving readers action and adventure like they’ve never seen before. This story is the culmination of two series, so it can be a little hard to follow if you haven’t read them, but that doesn’t change how amazing the story truly is.
5) “The Korvac Saga”
“The Korvac Saga”, by Roger Stern, Jim Shooter, David Michielinie, George Perez, Sal Buscema, and David Wenzel, stands tall among the Avengers stories of the Bronze Age. Michael Korvac is a former human slave from the 30th century who gains godlike power. He escapes to the present, followed by the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Guardians team up with the Avengers to stop him. What follows are some of the greatest fights in the team’s illustrious history. This story contains some of Marvel’s best creators in a story that’s going to shock you like no other. It’s old school Earth’s Mightiest Heroes at its finest.
4) “Under Siege”
“Under Siege”, by Roger Stern and John Buscema, comes from one of the best periods in the team’s history. Stern and Buscema are legends and this story is a huge part of why. Baron Zemo decides to destroy the Avengers once and for all, bringing together the largest, most powerful roster of the Masters of Evil to attack Avengers Mansion. The team is caught flat-footed, but even after taking grievous losses, they put their all into a desperate counterattack to take back their home and rescue their friends. This is peak ’80s Avengers, with Stern giving readers awesome scene after awesome scene. Buscema’s art is gorgeous; he’s one of the greatest action pencilers in Marvel history (seriously, his work on Conan the Barbarian and Wolverine (Vol. 2) is sensational), and this story gives him so much to work with. It’s another perfect old school Avengers epic that will blow your mind.
3) “The Kree/Skrull War”
Writer Roy Thomas took over Avengers from Stan Lee, and is the writer who is actually responsible for basically everything people love about the team. Thomas gave readers a story that would redefine the team forever with “The Kree/Skrull War”, with artists Neal Adams, Sal Buscema, and John Buscema. The Earth is pulled into the millennia-long war between the two alien governments, with the only the Avengers standing between the planet and conquest by an alien empire. This story showed that the scope of the Avengers could be truly universal, and was the team’s first major epic. Thomas is at his best here, with the art by Adams and the Buscema brothers giving proceedings a modern look and feel that older comics like this don’t usually have.
2) “Avengers World”
Jonathan Hickman’s run on the Avengers was perfect, and that started from the beginning. Avengers (Vol. 5) #1-3, with art by Jerome Opena, saw the Earth attacked by mysterious beings on the Mars. The Avengers mobilized and were trounced, with only Captain America escaping. Returning to the Earth, he activates a fail-safe created by Iron Man and himself: the Avengers Machine, bringing together the most powerful group of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. What follows is a battle in the tradition of Marvel’s greatest team. This story is outstanding, taking readers on an engaging ride that will hook them right away. Killer art is bolstered by some of the best Avengers writing ever to create an infinitely re-readable epic.
1) “Ultron Unlimited”
Kurt Busiek helped launch Avengers (Vol. 3) in 1998, working with classic Avengers artist George Perez. The two of them gave readers the best Avengers stories of the ’90s, and honestly nearly every issue they do together is fantastic. However, one of their stories stand above the others and it’s easily “Ultron Unlimited”. Ultron, the team’s greatest enemy, returns with an army of adamantium-clad drones, ready to finally wipe out humanity, with only Earth’s Mightiest Heroes standing in his way. What follows is a perfect bit of writing and art, action-packed storytelling with stakes that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is the best Avengers story ever (and it’s not even in print anymore), and everyone who loves the team needs to give it a read.
What’s your favorite Avengers story? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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