7 Avengers Who Stupidly Created Their Own Villains

The Avengers are a force for good in the Marvel Universe unlike any other out there. The Fantastic Four are intrepid scientists and explorers. The X-Men fight for their people when no one else will. The Guardians of the Galaxy deal with threats in space. However, the Avengers deal with threats to everything, having worked hard to save the universe every time it’s under attack. The Avengers are a special team, and have battled against the most evil villains in creation. Being a superhero is weird; your job is to defend the weak, but sometimes, those actions can create even more problems.

Many Avengers have ended up taking actions that resulted in the creation of their enemies. Being a hero is difficult work, and the path to Hell is paved with good intentions. Sometimes, heroes end up creating their own worst enemies, their mistakes leading to yet another foe to fight. These seven Avengers made that mistake, and created some of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe.

7) Wonder Man

So, this one is going to be complicated, so stay with me. Simon Williams did everything he could do to help his self-centered younger brother Eric, eventually volunteering to be infused with ionic energy and battle the Avengers so the Masters of Evil would break Eric out of dead. Simon became Wonder Man, and died helping the Avengers fight the Masters after a change of heart. Simon would eventually return, and Eric would decide to become his greatest enemy since Simon refused to be his savior every time he did something foolish. This is the origin of Grim Reaper, a villain who has been tormenting Wonder Man and the Avengers ever since.

6) Captain Universe

Jonathan Hickman gave readers a perfect Avengers run, introducing several new characters to the team. One of these members was a new Captain Universe. However, this Captain Universe wasn’t a person given the power of the Enigma Force; instead, it was the Enigma Force possessing a person who had been in a coma for years. It was revealed that Captain Universe was the embodiment of the universe itself, the mother of all. Captain Universe was responsible for the creation of Builders, who would eventually decide to end all life in the universe. Captain Universe’s own children battled against her, with her and the Avengers defeating them.

5) The Hulk

Bruce Banner began experimenting with gamma energy, eventually harnessing it for weapons of mass destruction. An accident transformed him into the Hulk, and he became the strongest one there is. The Hulk mostly fought the US military, but the Hulk would soon gain a rogues gallery. Looking at Hulk’s foes, he actually played a role in the creations of several of them. Banner’s relationship with Thunderbolt Ross’s daughter made Ross hate him, and Banner becoming the Hulk intensified that, Ross’s defeat eventually leading to him to become the Red Hulk. The Leader worked at Gamma Base, and Banner’s experiments would lead to him getting his powers. The same would basically happen to the Abomination, as Emil Blonsky was exposed to gamma because he was spying on Banner.

4) Captain America

Captain America is the Avengers’ most experienced leader, having fought against the most dangerous Nazis ever. In some ways, Captain America has created many of his villains just by existing. On top of that, the US government used Cap’s example to create supersoldiers like Nuke. Captain America not being able to save Bucky because he couldn’t stop Heinrich Zemo rocket bomb is why Bucky became the Winter Soldier. The death of Heinrich Zemo in battle with Cap and the Avengers motivated Helmut Zemo to take his father’s place as Baron Zemo. You could even say that Cap made Iron Man into his enemy by willfully refusing to support the Superhero Registration Act.

3) Iron Man

Tony Stark created his Iron Man armor while in captivity, and decided to become a hero to make up for all of the damage his weapons did in the past. Various world powers, seeing that Stark created this new kind of weapon, started an arms race. Villains like Crimson Dynamo were created to battle Iron Man, and many of Iron Man’s other enemies were given tech to make them capable of battling Iron Man, like Whiplash and Unicorn. Much like Cap, Iron Man also played a role in starting their enmity. Finally, Stark funded the creation of the Extremis virus, leading to Aldrich Killian to steal a sample and sell it to terrorists.

2) Thor

Thor was always Asgard’s greatest champion, and this made his relationship with his foster sibling Loki problematic. At first, Loki and Thor were great friends, with Loki working with Thor, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three to battle the enemies of the Golden Kingdom. However, as Thor became more powerful and accomplished as a warrior, he changed and began to treat Loki much worse, his arrogance causing Thor to look down on his sibling. This made Loki learn to hate Thor and the Asgardians who praised the God of Thunder. Thor helped mold Loki into a villain, giving him an enemy who tried for years to destroy him.

1) Hank Pym

The Avengers have many dangerous enemies, but none of them hate the team as much as Ultron. Ultron was once a robotic lab assistant created by Hank Pym, the founding Avenger known as Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, or Yellowjacket at various times in his superheroic career. Ultron gained sentience and Pym panicked, trying to shut the new lifeform down. Ultron escaped and believed that his “father” hated him and wanted to destroy him. This led Ultron to hate all of humanity, and began his mission to destroy all biological. If Pym wouldn’t have panicked when Ultron revealed himself, things might have been very different.

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