The Avengers have had a wild 62 years since their introduction. As great as the team has been over the years, no one would have been able to guess that they would become the most popular superhero team of the ’10s, thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, anyone who has been reading comics over the years has known they had it in them. There have been some fantastic stories starring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and some of the most important came from Roy Thomas. The Golden Age comic fan became Stan Lee’s protege and his work on Marvel’s biggest superteam laid the foundations for the team’s greatness.
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Thomas did tremendous work with the group. He took what Lee had established for the book and perfected it, setting the formula of the team for years to come. However, he’s far from the only great who has ever worked on the group’s comics. These seven Avengers writers have played a huge role in building the team, and deserve part of the praise for making the team what it is today.
7) Stan Lee
Stan Lee’s writing style revolutionized comics, and he played an integral role in the evolution of superheroes. He helped make Marvel a powerhouse in the ’60s, and there was no else to write the team that brought together the publisher’s greatest heroes. Lee wrote Avengers (Vol. 1) #1-34. He introduced many of the team’s greatest foes, like Kang the Conqueror and the Masters of Evil, and basically laid the groundwork for everyone that came after him. While his run here isn’t as good as his work on The Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, it’s still foundational to the history of the team.
6) Rick Remender
Rick Remender got his start as an inker in comics after working in animation, and eventually moved up to writer. He became a true star on Uncanny X-Force, and after Avengers vs. X-Men was given the reins of Uncanny Avengers. He wrote Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 1) #1-25, AXIS #1-8, Uncanny Avengers (Vol. 2) #1-5, and Avengers: Rage of Ultron before leaving Marvel for Image Comics. He gave readers some of the best Avengers stories of the ’10s, pitting the Avengers Unity Squad against Red Skull/Red Onslaught, Kang, the Apocalypse Twins, the High Evolutionary, and Ultron. His work on the team was short, but it was full of great stories.
5) Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis became a superstar in the ’00s, and was handed the keys to the kingdom after his successes on Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil. He was given the Avengers while they were floundering and made them into superstars again. He wrote Avengers (Vol. 1) #500-503, New Avengers (Vol. 1) #1-64, New Avengers Annual #1, Mighty Avengers #1-20, Dark Avengers #1-6 and 9-16, Avengers (Vol. 4) #1-34, Avengers Annual #1, New Avengers (Vol. 2) #1-34, New Avengers (Vol. 2) Annual #1, Avengers Prime #1-5, Avengers Assemble #1-8, and Avengers events like House of M, Secret Invasion, Siege, Age of Ultron, and Civil War II. Bendis’s character heavy style was able to capture the more soap opera elements of the team, hooking readers. While he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, he’s become a beloved part of the team’s history.
4) Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is most known for his work at DC, where he became one of the industry’s most beloved writers of the ’00s. Before he signed an exclusive deal with publisher, though, Johns did work at Marvel and has a short, but great, Avengers run under his belt. Johns wrote Avengers (Vol. 3) #57-76, working on three stories: “World Trust”, “Red Zone”, and “Search for She-Hulk”. He did an amazing job with the team, channeling the energy of the team’s Bronze Age years into the modern day, which was always his forte even at DC. Somewhere out there, there’s an Earth where Johns stayed with the team, and gave them amazing stories for years, but as it is, anyone who ignores his time with the Avengers is doing themselves a disservice.
3) Roger Stern
Roger Stern has had a quite career in comics, growing up as a comic fan and getting to work on the characters he loved as an adult. Stern has done work at Marvel and DC, and some of his most well-remembered work comes from the Avengers, working on the team in five different decades. Stern wrote Avengers (Vol. 1) #189-190, 201, 227-279, 281-287, Avengers Annual #13-14, Avengers Forever #3-12, Avengers Infinity #1-4, Avengers Two: Wonder Man and Beast #1-3, Avengers: The Ultron Imperative #1, and Avengers: Loki Unleashed #1. Stern understood how to build a story with the group, balancing character and action wonderfully, as well building some of the coolest parts of the team’s lore.
2) Jonathan Hickman
Jonathan Hickman’s time on the Avengers was flawless, and is yet another example of how great he is. Hickman worked his way up to the team, from the indies to Marvel, giving readers some of the coolest, most imaginative stories ever on books like Secret Warriors, before proving he was perfect for Marvel’s biggest teams with Fantastic Four. His run with the publisher’s premiere team is no different, as he built the greatest roster ever, and put them against the biggest threats in the universe, including the end of the multiverse, while redefining the Illuminati and what it means to be a superhero. Hickman wrote Avengers (Vol. 4) #1-44, New Avengers (Vol. 3) #1-33, Infinity #1-6, and Secret Wars #1-9. His epic with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is one of the team’s greatest stories, and is, in many ways, the team’s ultimate story; since he left, no one has been able to bring the team back to these heights, even a decade later.
1) Kurt Busiek
Kurt Busiek paid his dues across the comic industry, working at numerous indies before getting to Marvel. He kept working his way up, writing a back-up story in 1990’s Avengers Annual #19 (among other works for the publisher over the years) and finally had his big break in the ’90s with Marvels, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, and Thunderbolts before being tapped for Avengers (Vol. 3). He wrote issues #0-15 and 19-56, Avengers/Squadron Supreme ’98, Avengers 1999, Avengers 2000, Avengers 2001, Avengers Forever #1-12, and Avengers: The Ultron Imperative. Busiek gave the Avengers their best story ever, working with artist George Perez, Alan Davis, Carlos Pacheco, and more on the team. He was able to capture an old school flavor with his stories, while also keeping things modern and exciting. His run is amazing, and many believe it’s the greatest of all time.
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