The 10 Best Avengers Stories Of All Time
Find out which plot lines have been the best in the team's 49-year history.
Image via Complex Original
Everyone likes to believe that the creation of The Avengers was nothing short of divine intervention that bestowed the groundbreaking idea into the heads of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Instead, in 1963, Daredevil #1 was delayed because artist Bill Everett fell behind on his work, and, since Marvel needed to put something out to fill the hole, Stan Lee just came up with the idea to put a bunch of pre-existing heroes together in one book. Basically, Avengers #1 was nothing more than space filler.
But since then, the property has become one of the most recognizable and important at Marvel. Throughout the years, talent like Neal Adams, Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, and countless others have worked on various Avengers books in their quest to make Earth’s Mightiest Heroes the most high-profile series at the company.
The rosters may have changed over the years, but there's no denying the fact that seemingly every decade has given birth to dozens of memorable Avengers stories. From plots involving alien invasions to more traditional supervillain brawls, as well as the occasional tale with a bit of social commentary and moral ambiguity, the team has been able to adapt to all sorts of storytelling.
Unless you have been living without a television, the Internet, or the ability to see for the past four years, Marvel's The Avengers is making its big screen debut this Friday, courtesy of director Joss Whedon. To celebrate, we’re counting down The 10 Best Avengers Stories Of All Time.
Follow @ComplexPopCult
10. Breakout (New Avengers #1-6, 2005)
After the Avengers disband in the aftermath of Avengers Disassembled, Electro leads a prison breakout at The Raft, a jail designed specifically to house Marvel’s most powerful villains. In the chaos, 42 villains escape, but, thanks to the intervention of Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones, many of them fail to leave the island. Captain America decides to reunite the Avengers using this new roster, and together they go out and try to get to the bottom of the breakout.
Brian Michael Bendis had some big expectations to meet with this opening arc on New Avengers, and he did it effortlessly. He combined action, character development, and an unpredictable plot into a modern comic book masterpiece that still had the flavor of the classic Avengers dynamics. And the hyper-detailed and electrifying art by David Finch complimented the wide-screen script perfectly.
9. The Kang Dynasty (Avengers #41-55, 2001-2002)
You know how countless villains have attempted to take over the world, but they always wind up getting punked right before their plan is about to go off? Well, in The Kang Dynasty, the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror actually succeeds in taking over the Earth, though only a brief period of time. To be quite honest, this story is very long, and at times feels dragged out, but when it fires on all cylinders, The Kang Dynasty really gets moving.
The scope, the sense of desperation, and the terrifying thought of a world ruled by Kang all converge here to make The Kang Dynasty an Avengers epic that also served as the conclusion to Kurt Busiek’s memorable run on the title. Try as it might, Marvel still hasn’t found anyone capable of replacing him.
8. Avengers Forever (Avengers Forever #1-12, 1998-2000)
Warning: Do not read this book if you’re not intimately familiar with the years of Avengers stories that have come before it. If you consider yourself an Avengers aficionado, though, then this comic is perfect for you.
Written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Carlos Pacheco, Avengers Forever is a look back at the team’s past and a look towards its future as the title unites members of the team from throughout various points in the continuity as they battle Immortus.
Longtime Avengers fans will instantly recognize the version of Captain America from Steve Englehart’s “Secret Empire” storyline and Hank Pym from when he was the mentally unbalanced Yellowjacket, but details like that might be lost on new readers. This storyline was originally conceived as a way to clean up the complicated Avengers continuity, yet it also wound up becoming a pure tribute to the years of great Marvel stories. Just be sure you have a copy of The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe handy if you decide to plunge into this.
7. Avengers/Defenders War (Avengers #115-118, Defenders #8-11, 1973)
It seemed like the Avengers were involved in a war nearly every month back in the ‘70s, but writer Steve Englehart’s Avengers/Defenders War still ranks among the best. The premise of the book sees both teams being tricked by Loki and Dormammu to collect the pieces of the Evil Eye, a device that could destroy the universe for either man. The pieces are scattered across the globe, and as each Avenger and Defender splits up to find them, they're individually met by a member of the other team, which, of course, leads to some titanic brawls.
Eventually the teams work together to take down a common threat, but not before we see some classic beat-downs; just thinking of that Hulk/Thor battle gets us giddy. Turn off your brain and enjoy this one because it’s a pure comic book spectacle as the two super groups clash like Spandex-draped Gods.
6. Ultron Unlimited (Avengers #19-22, 1999)
Kurt Busiek and George Perez’s run on Avengers during the late ‘90s was the best thing to come out of Marvel during that decade. They combined the classic Avengers style of storytelling with the more sophisticated plots being done at the time, which resulted in one of our favorite incarnations of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes yet. And in Ultron Unlimited, the duo crafted one of the most intense and brutal Avengers tales in years.
In the story, entire cities are destroyed as Ultron kidnaps Hank Pym and a small group of Avengers in order to use their brain patterns to create a new race of Ultron robots. The stakes are high, the action is big, and the climax is thrilling as the Avengers take on the adamantium-plated android while the world hangs in the balance.
5. Civil War (Civil War #1-7, 2006-2007)
Despite always seeming buddy-buddy, Iron Man and Captain America would absolutely hate each other in real life. Tony Stark is the symbol of American capitalism and excess as his small fortune has made him nearly invincible, despite being a womanizing drunk; Captain America, on the other hand, is a throwback to the Roosevelt-era politics of the '30s and ‘40s that championed social justice and the distribution of wealth to the lower classes.
In Marvel’s most successful crossover event in recent years, Civil War finally ripped the smiling veneer off of the Avengers’ head honchos and pitted them against each other in a bloody battle where sides were taken and lives were lost.
The story dealt with a new initiative that would make it mandatory for heroes to register their identities with the government and become U.S. employees. Stark championed this cause because he felt it would increase security and decrease the appearance of violent vigilantes, but the Cap gathered a group of rebel Avengers to oppose it, citing the inherent dangers with being revealed to the public and becoming tools of the government.
With the heroes turned against one another, Stark and Cap finally came to blows that resulted in the defeat of the anti-registration group and the eventual assassination of Captain America.
4. The Korvac Saga (Avengers #167-168, #170-177, 1978)
When Korvac, a god-like cyborg from a future Earth, travels through time to restore order to the universe, he winds up in the 20th century and disguises himself as an ordinary man named Michael. He is then pursued by a futuristic team of heroes called the Guardians of the Galaxy, who idolized the Avengers in their time. The two teams confront “Michael” in his new home in Queens, where a climactic battle takes place. In the end, many of the Avengers are defeated (and even killed, albeit temporarily), but Korvac takes it upon himself to commit suicide before things get too out of hand.
Aside from featuring a ton of action, The Korvac Saga is also a very meditative and philosophical book. It explores the very nature of mankind as Korvac himself becomes a sympathetic, misunderstood figure by the end. The true nature of the story is very ambiguous, and it still stands today as one of Marvel’s most ambitious and challenging works.
3. TheUltimates 2 (The Ultimates 2 #1-13, 2004-2007)
When Marvel launched The Ultimates in 2002, one of the company’s goals was to present the Avengers in a more realistic way that was more reminiscent of the world’s current political climate. So the team was converted from a superhero squad led by Captain America into a government-sponsored group funded by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. Writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch blew people away with the first volume of the book, but it was in Ultimates 2 that the title reached new heights.
The United States public that once adored The Ultimates had turned on them after the team’s power had seemingly grown out of control, and it was learned that The Hulk was responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths. From there, Thor’s brother, Loki, had assembled a team of super-powered anti-American foes called The Liberators to battle The Ultimates.
What followed was an expertly illustrated and sharply plotted tale of superhero politics that challenged our thoughts on the classic Avengers. There are shades of what Alan Moore and Frank Miller had done with Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns throughout. And while the book doesn’t quite live up to those classics, it succeeds as one of Marvel’s most impressive stories of the new millennium.
2. The Kree-Skrull War (Avengers #89-97, 1971-1971)
When an intergalactic war between the merciless Krees and the shape-shifting Skrulls spills over onto Earth, it’s up to the Avengers to save our planet from the crossfire. Featuring the creative team of writer Roy Thomas and artists like Sal Buscema, John Buscema, and Neal Adams, this story is a precursor to the multi-part epics that Marvel would produce in the future. From the soil of Earth to the far-reaches of the Andromeda galaxy, The Kree-Skull War is an intergalactic epic of mammoth proportions.
Coupled with the copious amount of action in each issue, writer Roy Thomas' narrative also slipped in some social commentary, making it easier for a more sophisticated brand of reader could enjoy it. The Kree-Skrull War is considered by many to be the peak of Avengers storytelling, and there have been few story-lines since that have actually come close to topping it.
1. Under Siege (Avengers #273-277)
After years of being defeated and humiliated by Captain America and the Avengers, Baron Zemo decided to reunite the Master of Evil for one final assault on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. There's no posturing or long, boisterous rants in this one. Zemo and crew simply march into the Avengers' mansion when they’re not around, tie up their loyal butler, Jarvis, and basically take over the whole place.
Then the action really starts as one-by-one each member of the Avengers is taken down by the Masters of Evil until Cap and Thor get involved in the ruckus. That’s when things get downright nasty. Nearly every panel of this story is filled to the brim with bombastic fight scenes and four-colored mayhem as the greatest heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe pound on each other until only one is left standing.
In the end, the Masters of Evil are defeated, but Captain America is left to grieve over the personal belongings that the group destroyed while running amok through the mansion. It’s a solemn moment as a man from another time comes to grips with all he has lost.