Not every Avengers member can be a home run for Marvel. With Earth’s Mightiest Heroes being Marvel’s most prevalent and popular super-team, the brand naturally adds its most popular heroes into the mix. However, that doesn’t always produce ample results. Not every hero makes for a great fit, and some Avengers turn out to be jerks.
Upon analyzing the history of The Avengers, there are some choices that make readers scratch their heads as to why they were included in the first place. This includes members from other teams and heroes who simply don’t align with the franchise’s vibe. Some heroes are too cruel to be Avengers, while others simply don’t deserve their stripes.
10
Wolverine Joining the Avengers Felt Like a Cash Grab
Too Many Cooks and Too Many Teams
Wolverine joined The Avengers at the height of his popularity, which was a blessing and a curse for his fans. Those who loved Wolverine had plenty of content to choose from, but many grew sick of how overexposed he was. It’s not an overstatement to say that Wolverine was quite literally everywhere at the time.
It makes sense for Marvel to add their most popular heroes to The Avengers, but when Wolverine was already in several super-teams at the time, readers grew tired of him fast. Alternatively, frequent team-hopping even created problems for the character in-universe, as Wolverine’s decision to choose the Avengers over the X-Men in AvX put him at odds with other mutants.
9
Two-Gun Kid Only Works in Western-Driven Stories
Sorry, Two-Gun Kid, You Just Don’t Fit the Modern-Day Vibe
Although an obscure choice, Two-Gun Kid shouldn’t be considered a bad one, in that he’s not a bad superhero. In fact, an argument can be made for Matt Hawk being one of Stan Lee’s most underrated creations. On paper, he checks off all the boxes to be the perfect Avenger if the Avengers were set in the Old West.
For time travel tales set in the past, he’s perfect, but his drive for heroism saw him travel to the future to join the team full-time. His Western aesthetic clashed heavily with the present-day Avengers, especially for readers. That’s a significant reason why he’s hardly featured in current stories and has largely been forgotten as a result.
8
Mantis is Too Cosmic for The Avengers
There’s a Genre-Clash Whenever Mantis is Involved
Hindsight may be 20/20 for modern readers who know Mantis best from Guardians of the Galaxy, but it’s still surprising she was ever an Avenger. Even though she was often overlooked, Mantis played a major role during the “Celestial Madonna Saga,” where she was chosen to give birth to the powerful being known as the Celestial Madonna.
As such, The Avengers sought to protect her, so she was treated and written more as a damsel than a real member of the team. Even if younger fans were able to accept Mantis’ original depictions, her cosmic presence places the Avengers in a more sci-fi setting, rather than their usual action-adventure setting. Rather than Avengers, Mantis belongs to the Galaxy in more ways than one.
7
Moondragon Was Too Powerful to Be a Team Player
One of Marvel’s Strongest Telepaths
Sometimes, a superhero struggles to be the right fit for The Avengers when the heroes struggle to follow commands from another leader or work effectively alongside the team as a player. This is usually because the hero in question is used to being a leader in other teams, but in other cases, their ego simply gets the better of them.
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Guardians of The Galaxy: 10 Stories That Prove Moondragon Is the Future of the Cosmic MCU
Moondragon is an absolute cosmic powerhouse in Marvel Comics canon, with deep-cut ties to A-list heroes and villains, making her perfect for the MCU.
This is the case with Moondragon, Drax the Destroyer’s long-lost daughter, who was trained to become a skilled martial artist and telepath. She helped The Avengers the first time they fought Thanos, and subsequently joined the team thereafter. Unfortunately, Moondragon’s immense power and self-taught expertise led to a superiority complex, which often made it difficult for her to work with other Avengers.
6
Machine Man Originated from 2001: A Space Odyssey
He Was Always a Strange Fit for Marvel
In 1976, the comic book rights to 2001: A Space Odyssey belonged to Marvel, and under the artwork and writing of Jack Kirby, the company produced a 10-part series that expanded on the movie’s concepts. One of those expansions led to the creation of Machine Man, a robot developed by a human scientist who utilized its sentience to understand better and protect humanity.
Being in the Marvel Universe led to unexpected team-ups with the X-Men and the Avengers, the latter of whom he joined, but was momentarily barred from after being infected by the Sentinel program. Recently, he’s resurfaced, joining Red Hulk’s anti-hero team, which is honestly a better fit for him. Embracing what makes him different from the Avengers helps Machine Man fit with Marvel.
5
Darkhawk Doesn’t Quite Fit Modern Storylines Anymore
This Marvel Hero Was Doomed to Be an Outsider
Darkhawk was always a product of the ’90s. When he first emerged decades ago, his origin story, aesthetic, and especially his costume perfectly fit an era of comics that was slowly becoming grittier and bleak. Today, it’s harder to fit Darkhawk into current storylines, especially those revolving around the Avengers.
Even with a more recent redesign, Darkhawk feels out of place in modern storylines. While some characters feel timeless and others are easier to update with the times, Darkhawk seems to have made for a trickier transition into a more contemporary period. As a result, it’s become increasingly difficult for him to reclaim his Avengers status.
4
Echo May Be Too Dark for The Avengers
Her Time as Ronin Strongly Contrasted with the Rest of the Team
Admittedly, there are far more upsides to Echo being in The Avengers than downsides. In addition to being a great hero with a fascinating backstory, she opened the door for the Avengers having more Indigenous representation. That being said, it can’t be overlooked that the Avengers has a more lighthearted and wholesome vibe than most super-teams.
Echo herself, meanwhile, is far darker, with a serious tone that pervades her character and her stories. In addition, she’s an assassin trained by ninjas to kill. While The Avengers aren’t strictly anti-killing, they try to avoid it at all costs. Her time as Ronin conflicted heavily with the usual Avengers’ moral code. The conflicting vibes made Echo a different, yet odd, addition to the team.
3
Deadpool is Too R-Rated for The Avengers
Wade is Far Too Reckless and Violent for the Avengers
With The Avengers being Marvel’s most mainstream and family-friendly super-team, it’s strange to think Deadpool was ever a member when he’s the exact opposite. Yes, he’s popular with mainstream audiences, but he’s also not exactly family-friendly. The stories that made Deadpool a household name have always been gruesome.
With exceptions, like the Red Band-branded “Blood Hunt” event, the Avengers can’t be too explicit, and neither can Deadpool when he’s with them. For that reason, Deadpool feels tame and watered-down whenever he’s in an actual Avengers story. It’s hard to make Deadpool work in an Avengers setting in a way that satisfies the Merc with a Mouth’s die-hard fans.
2
The Punisher Had No Business Being an Avenger
He Exists Outside the Law, Including Superhero Code
Few superheroes are a more unlikely fit for the Avengers or any team than Frank Castle. The Punisher is a hyperrealistic lone wolf character who is, in fact, a rampaging lunatic. The only difference between him and true evil is that he targets the bad guys, but Frank is only one shot away from being one himself.
While it’s not implausible to imagine other superheroes letting him operate independently in an “agree to disagree” sense, especially since not all heroes follow a strict no-kill rule, it’s still hard to believe that Marvel’s most principled superhero team would support the Punisher enough to include him in their ranks. Yet he was once a member of Captain America’s Avengers Unity Squad.
1
Reed Richards Couldn’t Adjust to Not Leading The Avengers
Even Marvel’s Smartest Couple Once Had to Answer to Captain America
There was a time when Sue Storm and Reed Richards briefly stepped away from the Fantastic Four. Instead of retiring completely, they chose to join the Avengers. While they weren’t the only members of the Fantastic Four to make this move, they had the hardest time adjusting to the change. Mister Fantastic, in particular, struggled to adapt to the team’s different structure and leadership.
Both The Thing and The Human Torch have previously been depicted as Avengers. Ben Grimm had been a member of the New Avengers, while Johnny Storm had joined Captain America’s Avengers Unity Squad, better known as the Uncanny Avengers.
Readers found it challenging to envision Mister Fantastic as a team player rather than a leader, which was incorporated into this storyline. Reed struggled with having to take orders from Captain America. He had no personal issues with Steve Rogers, but Reed wouldn’t have accepted orders from anyone. His Avengers tenure was always doomed to fail from the start.
