10 Best Things to Happen in The Avengers Comics

In their beginning, the Avengers quickly became known as “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” a title they’ve strived to maintain for decades. They perfectly embody the classic superhero team concept – bringing together a publisher’s most popular characters – and have consistently demonstrated why this formula is so effective. The Avengers have significantly impacted how people view superhero comics, delivering some of the most memorable stories in Marvel history. Although the comics haven’t always been flawless, they’ve featured pivotal moments that redefined superhero dynamics. Over the years, the Avengers comics have evolved considerably, with many of those changes proving to be remarkably successful.

Several things have contributed to the long-running success of Avengers comics. While many elements played a role, certain factors were particularly important in establishing the Avengers’ stories as some of the most popular available.

These 10 moments from Marvel’s Avengers comics have significantly elevated the series, helping it become one of the greatest team comics of all time.

10) Roy Thomas’s Tenure on The Avengers

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were the creators of the Avengers, but many fans don’t often discuss their early work on the series. While their stories weren’t poor, they weren’t particularly outstanding. It wasn’t until Avengers issue 35-when Roy Thomas, a writer mentored by Lee, took over the writing duties and continued through issue 104-that fans truly felt they got the definitive Avengers experience.

This 69-issue series really cemented the Avengers’ status as the legends they are known as today. Roy Thomas assembled one of the Avengers’ strongest teams and established the core ideals of what it means to be an Avenger. Thomas skillfully combined exciting superhero action with well-developed characters, resulting in some of the greatest Avengers stories of all time. Almost everything fans appreciate about the Avengers originated with Roy Thomas.

9) The Marvel Event Cycle

Marvel is known for creating some truly excellent large-scale comic book events. This pattern of big, annual crossover events, often called the ‘Marvel event cycle’, started with Secret War in 2004 and has continued consistently ever since. The way these events work is fairly straightforward: a story develops in one of Marvel’s main comic series, leading to a big event comic, which then sets up ideas and storylines for the next event, again starting in a flagship title. It’s a cycle that keeps readers engaged and coming back for more.

As a longtime comic book fan, I’ve definitely noticed that the Avengers have really reaped the rewards of Marvel’s big event cycles. It seems like so many of the best Marvel events from the last two decades actually *started* within the Avengers titles. For years, if you wanted to truly understand what was happening with any major Marvel event, you had to be reading Avengers/New Avengers/Mighty Avengers/Dark Avengers. That naturally brought a lot more attention – and readers – to those books, making the Avengers more popular than they’ve ever been.

8) Dark Avengers

Following years of the Avengers being the top heroes, the storyline “Dark Reign” dramatically altered the Marvel Universe. Dark Avengers focused on a group of villains, with the ex-Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, at the helm, as they attempted to protect the world, navigate the challenges of being heroes, and battle numerous opposing threats.

This book skillfully built upon the Avengers foundation that writer Brian Michael Bendis created (we’ll discuss him further down the line), but with a unique twist. It emphasized character development, giving attention to heroes who often stayed in the background. Although the series only lasted for 18 issues and one annual, it’s widely considered one of the greatest Avengers series ever published.

7) Roger Stern’s ’80s Run

Roger Stern is a highly respected Marvel creator from the 1980s, and his work on Avengers was particularly impressive. He initially wrote issues #189-190 and #201, then began a substantial run with issue #227, continuing through issue #287. This 60-issue period brought contemporary storytelling techniques to the Avengers, and delivered one of the series’ most memorable stories, “Under Siege”. It’s considered a high point for the team.

John Buscema did most of the artwork for Stern’s Avengers, and his skillful illustrations greatly enhanced the stories, complementing the excellent writing. Stern’s work on Avengers is considered one of the finest Marvel runs of the 1980s, fundamentally altering how fans perceived the team.

6) Cap’s Kooky Quartet

The first 15 issues of Avengers featured a team comprised of all of Marvel’s biggest individual heroes. But with Avengers #16, the lineup changed for the first time. However, this was in the early 1960s, and Marvel didn’t have a huge number of heroes available. This led to the creation of what became known as Cap’s Kooky Quartet.

Captain America took a chance by recruiting three former villains – Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver – starting a now-famous Marvel trend of adding bad guys to the hero team. This unusual group, often called Cap’s Kooky Quartet, dramatically altered the Avengers, changing how the team worked together and bringing in three members who would become essential to the Avengers’ future.

5) Captain America Joining the Avengers

When people think of the Avengers, Captain America immediately comes to mind for many. Interestingly, he wasn’t one of the original members. Captain America first appeared with the team in Avengers (Vol. 1) #4, discovered frozen in ice by Namor and brought to the Avengers’ attention. After being thawed out, Cap joined the group and has since become widely recognized as the Avengers’ most effective leader.

Captain America is the essential member of the Avengers, the one the team truly relies on, and he’s become their central figure. It’s no surprise that the most popular Avengers comics always feature Captain America – he’s been the team’s most important member since he first joined, and remains so today. He’s truly the heart and soul of the group, inspiring everyone around him.

4) Brian Michael Bendis Becoming Writer of the Avengers

Brian Michael Bendis first gained significant recognition at Marvel with Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man, quickly becoming one of their most celebrated writers. In 2004, he took over the Avengers, beginning with “Avengers Disassembled: Chaos,” and then revitalized the team as New Avengers. New Avengers became Marvel’s leading comic book, driving many of their major story events.

Brian Michael Bendis revitalized the Avengers by emphasizing character development and adding exciting new heroes such as Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Ronin, and Wolverine. While Bendis’s Avengers run wasn’t without flaws, it successfully made the Avengers the most popular team at Marvel in decades.

3) “The Kree/Skrull War”

From the start, the Avengers were known as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but they didn’t reach their full potential as a team until the events of “The Kree/Skrull War.” The Avengers found themselves caught in a war that had been going on for thousands of years between the Kree and the Skrull, and they fought to protect Earth from these alien races.

This story marked the first time the Avengers ventured off-world, and it established them as the premier defense force within the Marvel Universe. “The Kree/Skrull War” is a truly pivotal Avengers storyline, fundamentally altering public perception of the team and its capabilities.

2) The Kurt Busiek/George Perez Run

The 1990s were a difficult period for Avengers fans. The X-Men became the dominant team in the comic book world, and the emergence of Image Comics seemed to diminish the prominence of Marvel’s established heroes. Marvel attempted to revitalize the Avengers by making them more current, but unfortunately, they produced stories that fans largely disliked.

Following the unsuccessful run of “Heroes Reborn”, Marvel paired writer Kurt Busiek with Avengers icon George Perez for Avengers (Vol. 3). Busiek and Perez collaborated to create some truly memorable Avengers stories (Avengers (Vol. 3) #4 and “Ultron Unlimited” are excellent examples, but represent just a small part of their work). They demonstrated that the Avengers could remain a top-tier superhero team, and their work continues to be highly regarded nearly 30 years later.

1) Jonathan Hickman’s Run on Avengers and New Avengers

Jonathan Hickman’s work on the Avengers is simply outstanding. After Brian Michael Bendis focused the team on stories primarily set on Earth for many years, Hickman expanded their scope to the cosmos, both in terms of setting and ambition. He assembled the biggest and most formidable Avengers roster ever, and plunged them into epic, universe-altering conflicts in Avengers.

At the same time, in New Avengers, Jonathan Hickman explored the difficult questions surrounding saving one Earth when multiple Earths were at risk, and how much heroes would sacrifice to protect their world. This run represents the absolute best Avengers has to offer, and the team hasn’t reached such incredible levels either before or after. It’s truly fantastic, delivering everything fans could hope for from the Avengers.

https://comicbook.com/comics/news/10-greatest-marvel-stories-of-the-2020s/embed/#

2025-10-01 15:13