The 7 Best Avengers Creative Teams in Marvel Comics History

The Avengers debuted in 1963 when some of Marvel Comics earliest heroes had to team up to stop a force bigger than their individual might. Over the years, the Avengers membership was a who’s who of the Marvel Universe, with heavy hitters like Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and more in the lineup. At the same time, the team’s main title has also had a who’s who of Marvel creative talent, with names like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roger Stern, John Byrne, John Romita Jr., and more taking the heroes in different directions and battling devastating villains over the years. From the team’s first appearance through its later battles to save the universe, here are the seven best Marvel Comics creative teams in Avengers history.

7) Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.

Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. relaunched the team with The Avengers Vol. 4 in 2010 as part of the Heroic Age following the Dark Reign and Siege events. After years of infighting, especially during the Civil War event, Bendis and Romita Jr. had the book return to a sense of optimism, creating a more positive outlook once again. Romita Jr. delivered dynamic artwork that gave the series blockbuster energy, which was perfectly timed with the rise of the MCU.

The first story of their relaunched series saw the Avengers in a time-traveling battle thanks to Kang. This series saw them actually dealing with a future event where their own kids had started their own superhero team. Bendis worked on the title from 2004 to 2012, one of the two longest runs on the team’s books. This creative team’s run ended up pushing the Avengers back to the top of Marvel’s hierarchy after years of the X-Men dominating the comic line.

6) Roy Thomas and John Buscema

Roy Thomas took over as the writer on the title in 1966 with Avengers #35, replacing Stan Lee as the main writer and then working on it through to the Bronze Age. John Buscema then joined the title as the artist starting with Avengers #41. This was a great time on the title and the two men helped create some of the most important characters in Avengers history.

Thomas and Buscema created Ultron, the Vision, and the Squadron Supreme. For artwork, it is Buscema’s depictions of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor that remain the standard to this day. They also worked to expand the roster and opened up the Avengers to cosmic level storylines, including their work on the Kree-Skrull War (which Neal Adams helped draw). This comic book run created the template for future creative teams.

5) Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

It is impossible to talk about the best Avengers creative teams of all time without discussing the team that started it all. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Avengers, when Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, and Ant-Man teamed up to fight the Loki-controlled Hulk before Hulk joined the heroes when Loki’s control was broken. They also brought in Captain America from the pre-Marvel Comics world as the first new member of the team.

Jack Kirby only penciled the first eight issues, but that should never discount what these two comic book creators accomplished during the run. They created the idea that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes existed to fight threats that no single hero could withstand. They made these team members flawed and emotionally complex with real-world problems, something that was new to comic books at the time. These men also created the Marvel Method, with Kirby plotting visually and Lee adding dialogue.

4) Kurt Busiek and George Pérez

Kurt Busiek and George Pérez joined the Avengers title with Vol. 3 in February 1998. This was a huge moment because they replaced Rob Liefeld and Walt Simonson on the title and brought the Avengers back to the status quo after the Heroes Reborn era. The biggest collaboration during their run together saw the Avengers fighting Morgan Le Fay, who had turned the world into a medieval kingdom with her reality warping powers.

During this run, George Pérez’s art remains some of the most detailed and expressive in Avengers history, and his double-page spreads were among the best in the industry. Busiek wrote two of the best storylines in Avengers history, with Ultron Unlimited and Avengers Forever, and this team returned the Avengers to the top as a premiere superhero team after years of second-tier heroes filling out the lineup.

3) John Byrne

John Byrne might be the best one-man show in comic book history. For the Avengers, Byrne wrote and penciled the West Coast Avengers starting with issue #42, and he did some of the most iconic Avengers stories from that era. This includes the “Vision Quest” storyline from West Coast Avengers #42-45, which the MCU will turn into a miniseries. That story saw Vision have his memory erased and return as an emotionless version of the hero.

This was also the storyline that introduced Wanda and Vision having twin children, both of whom end up disappearing. While they were only babies at the time, this means this John Byrne run created the characters that would one day become Wiccan and Speed. There is also the argument that what Byrne set up here would end up paying off in 2004 with Avengers Disassembled. The fallout from Byrne’s run played out through every future Vision and Scarlet Witch story.

2) Roy Thomas and Neal Adams

As mentioned, the Roy Thomas and John Buscema run had a new person join for a time when Neal Adams came out and joined Thomas to work on the Kree-Skrull War storyline from Avengers #89-97. Adams penciled Avengers #93-96, which was where the storyline turned the sci-fi story into a stunning cosmic epic that has reverberated throughout the years and made Cosmic Marvel one of the most expansive parts of the comic book line.

Adams used a photorealistic art style, and his page layouts and cinematic storytelling techniques changed how Marvel Comics artists told stories in the future. The Thomas-Adams run is the gold standard for how a writer/artist pairing can elevate the best storylines. Neal Adams influenced countless artists in Marvel and DC for decades.

1) Roger Stern and John Buscema

While Roy Thomas and John Buscema told some incredible stories during their run, the best Avengers creative team of all time is Roger Stern and John Buscema. Stern worked on the Avengers comics from 1983 to 1987, and his team-book storytelling wrote the playbook on how to write these sort of comics. Stern’s biggest and best story was “Under Siege,” where the Masters of Evil invaded Avengers Mansion and almost beat the entire Avengers team.

Stern and Buscema used some of the most interesting new Avengers heroes during their run, including names like Monica Rambeau, Black Knight, Wasp, Captain America, and Hercules. Their run together helped the Avengers finally surpass the X-Men as the Avengers’ definitive team in the 80s after a turbulent period, and their work on the Avengers comics was the best in the team’s history.

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