7 Most Powerful Avengers Marvel Did Nothing With

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The Avengers are a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe, uniting its most iconic heroes to tackle its greatest challenges. The team is unique because it blends well-known characters with lesser-known ones. While fans love seeing stars like Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man team up, it’s often the supporting heroes who get the most compelling stories and development within the Avengers books. In fact, many of these previously underrated characters – like Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and the Vision – have become major heroes in their own right thanks to their time with the team.

The Avengers comics have featured many impressive and strong characters, boosting their popularity significantly. Unfortunately, Marvel hasn’t always followed through on that potential. These seven powerful heroes had the chance to become truly special, but Marvel hasn’t fully leveraged their popularity from being Avengers.

7) Luke Cage

While sometimes overhyped, the *New Avengers* comic series did a good job of reminding people how strong characters from Marvel’s 1970s era were, especially Luke Cage. Cage eventually led both the New Avengers and the Thunderbolts, but Marvel hasn’t quite managed to make him a consistently successful solo hero since then. He often appeared alongside Iron Fist or as part of a team like the Defenders. Despite becoming the mayor of New York City, Luke Cage had the potential to headline his own series – he has a great supporting cast and was a key member of the Avengers for nearly ten years, so there’s no real reason why he couldn’t have been a star.

6) Sersi

As a critic, I’ve always felt Sersi was a seriously underutilized hero. She’s an Eternal, meaning she’s got the basics – super strength, flight, you name it – but what really sets her apart is her ability to manipulate matter. She joined the Avengers back in the early ’90s, a period that wasn’t exactly their golden age, but she was a real asset. While those weren’t the most iconic Avengers stories ever told, Sersi was a key player, especially when “The Proctor Saga” kicked off. It’s frustrating, though, because she consistently gets stuck in the ‘girlfriend’ role. She’s so much more than that and deserves a chance to truly shine as a hero in her own right.

5) Hercules

Hercules is incredibly strong – a true powerhouse among the Avengers. While he’s joined the team several times, bringing immense strength, he’s often portrayed as simply a substitute for Thor. Marvel seems to occasionally bring Hercules back, attempt a short story arc, and then quickly lose interest in developing him further. He has a lot of potential as a character, enjoying life to the fullest with a love for fighting and romance, but until Marvel moves beyond using him as a weaker version of Thor, he’ll likely remain underutilized.

4) Cannonball

Jonathan Hickman’s run with the Avengers was excellent, and he significantly expanded the team’s roster with fresh faces. He brought in characters like Cannonball, who was previously known for his work with the New Mutants, X-Force, and the X-Men. Cannonball had become a powerful force, even defeating the formidable Gladiator with his kinetic energy blasts. His time with the Avengers saw him happily marry Smasher and start a family, but since then, Marvel hasn’t really done much with the character. Despite the opportunities presented by the Krakoa era, Cannonball has barely appeared. It’s frustrating because after over 40 years, he deserves to be a major character, but Marvel consistently seems to underutilize him.

3) Smasher

Smasher made history as the first human to join the Shi’Ar Empire’s Imperial Guard, achieving this through her brave actions alongside the Avengers. Similar to her husband, Cannonball, she faded into the background after they married, which is unusual given her potential. She even had a dedicated issue of Avengers showcasing her journey and importance to the team. However, the writer at the time, Jonathan Hickman, didn’t seem to have any further plans for her, and she’s rarely been seen in Marvel comics since. Smasher had the potential to become a major Marvel heroine, but it seems the publisher lost interest in developing her character.

2) Captain Universe

For Marvel enthusiasts, Captain Universe is a familiar, yet often shifting, power. The source of this power, the Enigma Force, has imbued many heroes with the title. However, writer Jonathan Hickman presented a particularly fascinating take: Captain Universe was Tamara, a comatose woman who was, in fact, the living embodiment of the universe. She briefly joined the Avengers, playing a key role in fighting the Incursions, but ultimately faded from the story. This version of Captain Universe showed incredible promise, and it’s disappointing that Marvel hasn’t revisited or fully explored her potential.

1) Hyperion of Earth-13034

Jonathan Hickman assembled a particularly strong Avengers team, and Hyperion was a key member. Hyperion is a Superman-like character familiar to longtime Marvel readers, appearing in many alternate reality stories. This version, from Earth-13034, was recruited after his world was destroyed by AIM during a series of dimensional incursions. He quickly became one of the Avengers’ most powerful heroes, forging a friendship with Thor and fighting alongside them against the Beyonders before the 2015 *Secret Wars* event. Since then, however, he’s disappeared, with only other versions of Hyperion from different universes appearing. Many fans consider this iteration of Hyperion the best, and believe Marvel could do a lot with the character, but he hasn’t been seen in over ten years and doesn’t seem likely to return.

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2025-10-15 17:11