You can’t think of the Marvel Cinematic Universe without the Avengers springing to mind, and that’s understandable, since some of Marvel’s biggest heroes have not only been members of the team but also helped start it. To this point, there have been 23 characters who are considered members of the Avengers at various points in time, and there was no way all of those characters were going to receive the same amount of development or attention. That’s why we’re breaking down the 5 worst MCU Avengers, and here’s our criteria.
Videos by ComicBook.com
To put it bluntly, this does not mean these characters are terrible or the actors who played them are terrible, or anything of the like. What this does mean is that for a multitude of possible reasons, these Avengers either didn’t get a chance to shine, were relatively boring during their tenure, or were such a cause of chaos that they might not be worth all the trouble they bring with them.
5. War Machine
War Machine became an Avenger during the Age of Ultron aftermath, as he is part of the team when the Sokovia Accords fracture the group in Civil War, and he continues to be an Avenger all the way through Avengers: Endgame. You’d be forgiven for not realizing how long he’s actually been an Avenger, as over the course of his time in those movies, he really didn’t make much of an impact.
That’s not to say there aren’t some fun Rhodey moments during his time as an Avenger, with his team-up alongside Nebula being one of his true spotlights, and his story bit during Age of Ultron still works after numerous rewatches. That said, those are few and far between, and most of the time Rhodes gets lost in the shuffle, and there’s not much inherently interesting about him as a character either.
In action sequences, he doesn’t fare much better. Sure, there’s a slick scene or two when War Machine is defending Wakanda, but outside of that, can you name me one other sequence other than when he was taken down by Vision? You probably can’t, and that only made the big twist of Secret Invasion that he was a Skrull less impactful, as it literally changed almost nothing about how things played out with him out of the mix. War Machine is fine, but he could have been so much better.
4. Vision
Vision started out as one of the most promising MCU heroes, and while some of our previous picks had a problem keeping their anger in check, that was quite the opposite for Vision. Few are more measured than Vision, which is part of what made his eventual fall for Wanda that much more entertaining. As an Avenger, though, he’s got a bit of a mixed record.
Vision has made some questionable choices during his time as an Avenger, with the worst coming in Civil War when he stopped Wanda from leaving Avengers HQ as he aligned with Iron Man’s view and orders. Vision would get some karma when Wanda slammed Vision through the floor deep underground, but things got worse from there.
Vision ended up involved in the battle at the airport between Team Cap and Team Iron Man, and after working things out with Wanda briefly, he tried to help War Machine by taking out Falcon in the air. The only problem was that Vision wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing, and after Falcon easily dodged the blast, it ended up hitting War Machine, knocking him out of the air and severely injuring him. Not too great an outing to be sure.
After all that, we see him in Avengers: Infinity War getting knocked around like a crash test dummy in battles with Thanos’ Black Order. It felt like he was severely powered down or up for every fight, depending on what that battle needed, and that was an issue over the course of his time in the Avengers. A lack of consistency and bad choices led to Vision not achieving his potential outside until WandaVision came around, and by that point, he was already dead, at least until his new lease on life as White Vision.
3. Savage Hulk
While the Avengers did have a Thunder God amongst their lineup, everyone knows their true powerhouse was the Hulk, but when he joined up with the team initially, he was far more savage than the Hulk we see today. It led to some truly awesome battle sequences, but it also led to a metric ton of damage and destruction to the city, and helped to build up a distrust of superheroes that would be capitalized upon in Captain America: Civil War.
These days, Hulk is in control of his power and is also able to utilize his brilliance as Dr. Bruce Banner, which is frankly my preferred version of the character. That’s legitimately the best of both worlds, but with savage Hulk, you could instantly regret having him in the vicinity, either due to mental manipulation, which we saw in action in Age of Ultron.
Wanda was able to send him into a rage, resulting in a battle with Iron Man that decimated parts of the city and caused the citizens of that city to run for their lives. That happened in Avengers as well with Hawkeye, but Hawkeye isn’t someone who can destroy a city block in two seconds, so the rate of devastation is much greater. When you have so many variables at play, while the power might be enticing, it might be better to have someone who isn’t so volatile on the roster instead.
2. Sentry
That’s the perfect segue to one of the newest additions to the Avengers, and that’s The Sentry, aka Bob. Bob is a member of the New Avengers introduced in Thunderbolts, and along the same lines as Savage Hulk, someone of Sentry’s power level may just not be worth all the potential chaos he brings with him.
How many superheroes can say that they are also their greatest nemesis? Few to be sure, but Sentry is absolutely one of them, as his mind also houses the pure evil that is The Void. As altruistic as Sentry tries to be, the Void is the antithesis of that, and the power at his command is truly frightening. Those who watched Thunderbolts witnessed The Void snapping hundreds out of existence by turning them into shadows, and without the help of Yelena and the rest of the team, Bob very well could have been completely consumed by his evil counterpart and pretty much destroyed the world.
Unlike with The Hulk, who could snap due to outside interference, The Sentry simply has to live with The Void, and no amount of precautions can 100% keep him from reverting back. We’ve seen it time and time again in the comics, and one series of bad events could pave the way for a Void return. So the question becomes, do you want a superhuman powerhouse at your disposal, and is it worth the world getting roasted in the process? Its surely something to consider.
1. Hawkeye
In the top spot is none other than the Avengers marksman known as Hawkeye, and this mostly comes down to three main reasons. The first is that Hawkeye rarely feels like he makes a sizable impact on the team or the story, and this has nothing to do with not having powers, either. Black Widow (Natasha), Sam Wilson, Yelena Belova, and Kate Bishop don’t have powers either, and yet they all feel like they have a tangential effect on whoever they encounter and whatever mission they are a part of.
That was not the case for Hawkeye until his Disney+ series, and half the credit there goes to Kate and Yelena as well. Until then, Hawkeye was more notable for being a villain thanks to Loki’s mind control in Avengers, and while it was fun seeing him in Civil War, his presence is more of a symbol of belief in what Steve is doing than anything he presents on his own.
That’s also before we get to the trail of death he created in Avengers: Endgame as Ronin. While we’ve seen characters go down dark paths before and come back from them, his arc in that regard feels unearned and without much in the way of confrontation from the other Avengers still around. It’s a heartwarming moment when he is reunited with his family, but again, there’s no real accountability for what he did, so the feel-good moment still feels a bit hollow. That’s why he is in the number 1 spot.
Avengers MCU Roster (Active, Inactive, and KIA)
- Iron Man
- Captain America
- Thor
- Black Widow
- Hawkeye
- Hulk
- Falcon
- Scarlet Witch
- Quicksilver
- War Machine
- Vision
- Spider-Man
- Ant-Man
- Captain Marvel
- Okoye
- Nebula
- Rocket Raccoon
- Yelena Belova
- U.S. Agent
- Ghost
- Red Guardian
- Winter Soldier
- Sentry
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Focus Features. -
Courtesy of Comedy Central
