When Marvel’s The Avengers arrived in 2012, it not only confirmed the hypothesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe experiment was one that worked, but that audiences were ready to see superheroes come to life as they had lived in comics for decades. Written and directed by Joss Whedon, Marvel Studios’ The Avengers delivered an incredibly rare movie that acted as a sequel to four other films, while also offering a springboard for even more movies that would follow. It created the blueprint for the MCU’s larger structure, not only that the individual characters would be able to crossover with each other later on, but that this crossover would be a climactic point for each of the phases.
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Though the MCU has only gotten bigger since The Avengers, that original line-up of heroes has remained an iconic piece of the Marvel puzzle. This group has become the standard for The Avengers in the mind of the world since the film debuted. In the fourteen years since the film, the MCU hasn’t found a better collective as a team to dethrone that original Avengers. That said, there are things that even the most hardcore Marvel fan might not want to admit about them.
7) Captain America Can’t Be Replaced as the Leader
The reason that Steve Rogers works so well as the immediate leader of The Avengers in the first movie is that, as a man out of time, he is capable of putting the mission and the larger objectives of saving the public as his main priority, without putting any personal woes in the middle of accomplishing them. Rogers carries weight with all of the other characters not only because of his status as Captain America but because the truth is that he’s a regular man enhanced by science who has never lost his moral compass. As a result, no one can replace him as the leader of the Avengers. Marvel will almost certainly try in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, but since fans already know that Chris Evans’ character is back, they know what his place is.
6) Iron Man Is the Most Replaceable
As fans might recall, Nick Fury didn’t even want to include Tony Stark on the original roster of The Avengers. Though he may have proven himself in the first film, Fury was right. What Tony brings to the table for The Avengers is twofold: a great scientific mind but also untold monetary assets that then lead to more and more Iron Man armors. Marvel fans know good and well that great scientific minds are a dime a dozen in the Marvel Universe; Tony can easily be replaced by Reed Richards, Shuri, and even Rocket in that department. The money and armors would clearly be lacking without him, but even those are expendable assets for a superhero team (as seen in Valentina Allegra de Fontaine bankrolling the New Avengers).
5) Black Widow’s Real Role on the Team
When Nick Fury is initially preparing to assemble the Avengers, he tasks Natasha Romanoff with determining if Tony Stark is right for the team. Though she initially decided no, he isn’t, Fury later makes the call to put Natasha on the team alongside Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Thor, but why? Though clearly a capable fighter and a presence with espionage experience, she has no powers at all. To that it, it seems incredibly clear that the reason Black Widow was put on the Avengers was so she could keep tabs on the team entirely, acting as a spy for Fury. The films themselves never disclose this, but knowing how close Fury keeps his cards and how he always wants to know what’s going on it seems like the real reason she’s there.
4) Thor’s Return Breaks the MCU
At the end of 2011’s Thor, the Bifröst Bridge has been destroyed, and with it Asgard has been cut off from… the rest of the universe. Though the film does set up Loki’s return by having him fall into a blank abyss, meaning he could have very easily just landed on Thanos’ floating throne in outer space, Thor’s sudden return to Earth to retrieve his brother largely cheapens the ending of the film that preceded it. Yes, The Avengers attempts to handwave away this plot hole by claiming Thor arrived thanks to some kind of powerful magic from Odin, but in truth, it makes no sense, and the god of thunder shouldn’t even be here.
3) Hawkeye Shouldn’t Have Been on the Team
The only reason Hawkeye is even involved in the events of The Avengers is that this random bow-and-arrow-wielding SHIELD agent just happened to be present when Loki arrives through his portal and starts mind-controlling people to do his bidding. Even after he gets broken out of the spell by a grand bonk to the head, the character has no real place in the story beyond being a friend to Natasha and a skilled marksman. Is he a great character? Yes. Do his arrows actually come in handy while they’re fighting the Chitauri? Yes. Did he somehow get grandfathered into the team just because he was there? Yes.
2) Hulk Could Have Won the First Movie Alone
Though The Avengers gives fans exactly what they want with a Hulk rampage on the Helicarrier, it saves much of the Hulk’s biggest shenanigans for the third act, and for good reason. Throughout the repelling of the Chitauri invasion, The Hulk is far and away the most valuable member of the team in terms of fighting the aliens and even destroying their Leviathans single-handedly. One might say that the nuclear bomb launched at the city would pose a problem that The Hulk couldn’t solve, but The Hulk is himself a nuclear bomb, and this seems like something he could easily handle if the story needed it.
1) The Avengers Probably Didn’t Save All That Many People
One reason that The Avengers worked so well as a superhero story is that it showed the heroes going out of their way to save people directly affected by the conflict. Though the team does their best to force the Chitauri into one location to minimize damage, there’s no chance that someone didn’t have a deadly encounter with an alien at some point or have a piece of rubble crash-land on their leg. The Hulk was leaping through the air and landing on buildings to pummel aliens against concrete, and we’re to believe that everyone on the ground got away scottfree?
