10 Worst Avengers, Ranked

The Avengers were given the fitting appellation “Earth’s Greatest Heroes” and for good reason. The Avengers combined Marvel’s greatest heroes together in one place and created a legacy of excellence that has lasted over 60 years. The Avengers have had a who’s who of heroes onboard over the decades, powerful, skilled heroes who stood against the greatest threats of all time. The Avengers have had some amazing adventures, their members facing challenges that separated the wheat from the chaff. Joining the Avengers means something; it’s a big deal to be part of a legacy that defined what superheroes in the Marvel Universe could be. Some heroes bring their popularity with them to the Avengers, others become popular because of the Avengers. However, there are some Avengers who never live up to the team’s reputation.

There are two types of bad Avengers — those who have done bad things while Avengers, making them a detriment to the team in story, and those characters that became Avengers and just didn’t catch on in the slightest. Both of these have been problems for the team over the years. Sometimes, the bad Avengers are entertaining, sometimes they are just a wasted roster sport. These ten Avengers are the worst members of the team, members whose time on the team made things more difficult in a variety of ways.

10) Bullseye/Hawkeye

Dark Avengers had several “worst” Avengers of all time, but the most entertaining of this number was Bullseye during his time as Hawkeye. Bullseye was made a member of the Thunderbolts starting with Civil War, and proved to be a useful hand in a fight. However, Bullseye has always had a tendency to needle everyone works with, all so he’d have an excuse to fight someone. Bullseye kept this up throughout his time as Hawkeye. He got very close with Moonstone, and would clash with Daken during “Avengers/X-Men: Utopia”. He murdered Lindy Reynolds, the Sentry’s wife, at the order of Norman Osborn, and basically did all of the kinds of things you’d expect Bullseye to. Bullseye was something of a model Dark Avengers, in that he did whatever he was told and killed who he needed to kill, and that alone makes him one of the worst Avengers. However, even with all of that, Bullseye was still almost more trouble than he was worth.

9) Norman Osborn/Iron Patriot

Norman Osborn is best known as the Green Goblin, but he would soon became an A-list Avengers villain. It all started with Civil War, when Iron Man needed someone who would do whatever it took to stop the Atlanteans, who were on a warpath because Nitro had killed Namorita in the Stamford attack. Osborn did as he was ordered and was rewarded by being made head of the Thunderbolts Initiative, which led him to helping fight the Skrulls in Secret Invasion. Osborn got the kill shot on Skrull Empress Veranke and was given control of the superhero national security apparatus, creating the Dark Avengers. He hacked an older model suit of Iron Man armor, in order to combine the iconography of Iron Man and Captain America, and became the Iron Patriot. Norman was another of the entertaining worst Avengers. Iron Patriot definitely saved the world several times, but he was also a brutal pragmatist who was all about cementing his own power base. He was arrogant and volatile, which led to his own failures. Norman was a monster, and while he succeeded at the most basic parts of being an Avenger — he led his team to some major victories — but he was still nothing like what an Avenger should have been.

8) Namor

Namor has been an Avenger multiple times over the years, and he’s also been an enemy of the team. Namor is always something of an antagonist; his arrogant nature and status as the ruler of Atlantis mean he’s hard to get along with and has divided loyalties. Namor as an Avenger is going to do several things — he’s going to sass everyone, he’s going to act superior, and he’s going to start a fight with someone. That’s just how Namor is as a superhero. He’s going to save the world, but he’s going to do it in such a way where he makes everybody miserable while doing it. And then, of course, there are those times he gets fed up with listening to everyone or when Atlantis decides that the surface world needs to pay for some kind of slight, which means Namor is about to smack around his “teammates”. Namor is tough enough to fight against even the most powerful teams of Avengers, making every one of his villainous dalliances into a dangerous event for the Avengers. Every time Namor joins the team, there’s always multiple problems, and they usually lead to him fighting someone else.

7) Noh-Varr/Captain Marvel/Protector

Noh-Varr first showed up in the excellent Marvel Boy, Grant Morrison’s first Marvel work after signing with the publisher in 2000. Noh-Varr is an alternate universe Kree supersoldier, his DNA crossed with that of a cockroach, allowing him to survive nearly anything and adapt to everything. Noh-Varr was basically a super-terrorist, attacking Doctor Midas and SHIELD for the destruction of the Kree alternate reality schooner Marvel and its crew, and he was imprisoned for a time. Eventually, Norman Osborn decided that he would be perfect for the Dark Avengers, and Noh-Varr was soon rechristened Captain Marvel. He lasted all of one mission with the team before realizing that he was out of place there, escaping from Avengers Tower after a confrontation with the Void over Lindy Reynolds. He’d resurface as the Osborn’s “Dark Reign” was ending, and ended up joining the Avengers as Protector after Osborn’s defeat. The problem with Noh-Varr as an Avenger is that he was basically a waste of a roster spot. He never did anything spectacular on either of his runs with the main Avengers team. He was, however, a pretty excellent Young Avenger, but that doesn’t really make up for two runs with the team that basically no one but me remembers.

6) Echo

Echo first secretly joined the New Avengers as Ronin, at the behest of Daredevil (originally, it was supposed to be Daredevil as Ronin, but fans figured that out immediately and Marvel changed the story). She worked in Japan fighting the Hand, keeping them bottled up for the team. However, once Elektra, well a Skrull Elektra, took over the Hand, she got serious about going after Ronin. Ronin called in the New Avengers and they extracted her, bringing her back to the United States while the team was in their underground phase, hiding out and on the run from Iron Man and later Norman Osborn. She’d end up staying with the Avengers after Osborn was defeated and then disappeared off the team during the Hickman run. She’d return years later during Jason Aaron’s run on the team, when she would somehow become the host of the Phoenix Force. Echo was always a one-trick pony as an Avenger. She was Ronin, she joined the team and didn’t really do much — she was a normal human who could fight really well — before leaving the team. She returned just to be made the Phoenix, and then she was just a heavy hitter on a team of heavy hitters, put into a role she wasn’t suited for. Echo is a cool character for street-level stuff, which is partly why her time as a New Avenger worked, since that team was basically the Avengers but street-level. Making her the Phoenix just to put her on the powerful team was a gimmick, and it’s one she never really felt right as. Echo was basically a gimmick Avenger, and she never rose above that level.

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5) Scarlet Witch

Scarlet Witch is a longtime member of the Avengers, but she’s caused a ton of problems for the team. Scarlet Witch was given the “woman with too much power who sometimes turns evil because reasons” spot, something that was very common for Marvel teams in the Bronze Age of Comics. Scarlet Witch turned on the team several times over the years, but her biggest problems as an Avenger would start with “Avengers Disassembled: Chaos”. Scarlet Witch learned the truth about her “children”, all while helping Doctor Doom tap into the Life Force (a clumsy retcon used to explain her madness). Scarlet Witch killed three Avengers — the Vision, Scott Lang, and Hawkeye — before the team beat her. She would be taken to Genosha by Magneto for help from her “father” and Charles Xavier, but the X-Men and Avengers decided to confront her, Magneto, and Xavier about what to do with her. This led to House of M, where she would commit genocide against the mutant race. She’d eventually rejoin the team, and ended up with the Avengers Unity Squad, where she clashed with Rogue over whether she should feel bad about depowering the mutant race. Scarlet Witch brings a lot of problems to the team, and while she’s been on her best behavior lately, that doesn’t make up for the years of problems she caused.

4) The Sentry

The Sentry joined the New Avengers at the beginning of the team’s existence. The Sentry had allowed himself to be imprisoned, believing him to have killed his wife. However, this wasn’t true; he was imprisoned so that his evil side the Void wouldn’t be in a position where he could take control of the Sentry without everyone finding out about it. He helped fight the New Avengers’ inaugural battle at the Raft, and then the team had to deal with the Void, calling in Emma Frost to help re-establish the mental blocks in his mind. The Sentry would remain an Avenger through Civil War, joining the Initiative’s Avengers team after the war ended. He would then become a member of Osborn’s Dark Avengers, where the villain would establish a relationship with the Void, taking advantage of the Sentry’s mental issues to manipulate him into the team’s most dangerous member. This backfired spectacularly, with the Void taking control of the Sentry, and almost destroying all life on Earth. The Sentry was the definition of an unstable powerhouse, and that made him one of the biggest problem Avengers ever. Even when he was relatively in control of himself, such as during his time as a member of the casts of New Avengers and Mighty Avengers, he was only ever called in to smash the most powerful enemies before going back to his Watchtower base on the top of Avengers Tower and hanging out there with his wife, who was scared witless by him. The Sentry was more a plot element than a character, a deus ex machina for writers that could either make sure the Avengers won or put them in immense danger they’d have to get out of. That’s fine for stories, but it doesn’t make him a good Avenger, as he only had a few story options.

3) Deathcry

Deathcry joined the Avengers after “Operation: Galactic Storm”. This story saw the Avengers get involved in a war between the Shi’Ar Empire and the Kree. The Shi’Ar won the war, using a Nega-Bomb to destroy the Kree throneworld Hala, and a group of Avengers led by Iron Man killed the Kree Supreme Intelligence. Shi’Ar Empress Lilandra sent Deathcry to the team to protect them from vengeful Kree (this was the leather jacket era of the team, when most of its dependable powerhouses had quit, so an argument can be made that they needed the help). Deathcry was Marvel’s try at getting a feral, clawed hero on the Avengers to try in attempt to mimic the X-Men books, which had Wolverine, Wolfsbane, and Feral on the X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force (Excalibur technically didn’t have a clawed mutant, although Meghan in her true form was sort of a clawed, animalistic character). It didn’t work; she never really fit with the Avengers and is one of the more maligned members in Avengers’ history. She at least had good relationships with the Vision and Hercules, but was otherwise a complete bust as a member of the Avengers.

2) Doctor Druid

Doctor Druid was basically the proto-Doctor Strange, debuting as Doctor Droom in 1961, months before the Fantastic Four. Droom wasn’t very popular, and disappeared, but would re-debut as Doctor Druid in 1976. Druid was a Z-list character, but would eventually join the Avengers as their resident magic user, during the ’80s run of Roger Stern and John Buscema. Druid would eventually enter into a relationship with Kang’s girlfriend, Ravonna, and was able to manipulate his way into the seat of the chairman of the Avengers. It was a villainous plan, and Druid would pay for it with his life. Druid was always a lame character, and it was strange that he joined the Avengers in general. The Avengers have often taken low-level Marvel characters and made them into something special, but such things weren’t possible with Druid. He was never going to be anything but a bad Avenger.

1) Gilgamesh the Forgotten One

It really could only be Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is a creation of Jack Kirby for Eternals, a series that introduced the titular superhumans created by the Celestials. Gilgamesh was one of the ancillary Eternals, not one of the more important ones. He was long in the shadows, which is saying something when it comes to the Eternals, but was brought back for Avengers #300. This comic introduced the short-lived, but massively terrible, Avengers team consisting of Steve Rogers as the Captain, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was advertised on the cover as ” the Forgotten One” and that perfectly described him a character. Gilgamesh was definitely a waste of an Avengers slot, and he didn’t last very long on the team. Gilgamesh finally got some love in the latest return of the Eternals, spurred on by the film failure of the same name, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s easily the worst Avenger of them all.

Who do you think are the worst Avengers? Sound off in the comments below.