Ranking The Avengers’ First 10 Villains By Power

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The Avengers first appeared in Marvel Comics when a trick led them to believe the Hulk was causing chaos and needed to be stopped by a team of powerful heroes. This initial team, formed in September 1963 with the first issue of Avengers, included Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, and later, the Hulk himself once the misunderstanding was cleared up. Similar to DC Comics’ Justice League, the Avengers were created to fight Earth’s biggest threats. However, many of their early villains weren’t very memorable, and it took 18 issues—almost two years—for them to battle a total of 10 different villains, partly because they fought the same group of supervillains across five separate issues.

Here’s a look at the first ten villains the Avengers faced in their first two years, ranked by how powerful they were.

10) Kallusians

In Avengers #14, the team was frantic after Wasp was critically injured in a battle with Count Nefaria. They rushed her to the hospital, but doctors couldn’t help. Desperate, they sought out Dr. Svenson, hoping his experimental lung restoration work could save her. Instead, they discovered he was an alien imposter, and that Earth was secretly harboring an alien army called the Kallusians. A fight broke out, but the Kallusians were quickly forced to retreat by another alien race, who immediately began battling them. This distraction allowed the Avengers to finally find Dr. Svenson and get the help Wasp needed.

9) Commissar

It took ten issues for the Avengers to face their tenth villain, who first appeared in Avengers #18. By that point, the original team members had all left, and Captain America was leading a new lineup including Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver. In this issue, the Avengers traveled to the communist nation of Sin-Cong and fought its leader, the ruthless Commissar. While it was unclear how they were authorized to intervene in a foreign country, they discovered Commissar was a robot, defeated him, and freed the country.

8) Space Phantom

Following the exciting team-up that formed the Avengers in their first adventure, their second issue featured a rather underwhelming battle. The villain, called the Space Phantom, was a shapeshifter who impersonated the Hulk, Wasp, Giant-Man (who was then known as Ant-Man), and Iron Man. While he could mimic the appearances and abilities of ordinary people, he made the mistake of trying to copy Thor, a god. This backfired, sending the Space Phantom into a mysterious dimension. He reappeared on occasion, but never became a particularly noteworthy enemy.

7) Lava Men

As a longtime comic fan, I remember reading Avengers #5 and it was a pretty cool story! The team faced off against these creatures called the Lava Men, who actually showed up earlier in a Journey Into Mystery comic battling Thor. They live underground in this place called Subterranea and are literally made of lava, making them incredibly powerful – they can control the heat radiating from their bodies. What was interesting, though, was that not all of them wanted to fight. It turned out a shaman-like figure named Jinku, a Lava Man himself, was the one really stirring things up. The battle itself wasn’t super long, but the Lava Men definitely put up a fight. Ultimately, it was about saving both their world and ours, and Hank Pym cleverly tricked Hulk into causing a cave-in that ended the conflict and protected everyone.

6) Mole Man

In their early adventures, the Avengers faced the Fantastic Four’s original foe, the Mole Man, not once, but twice. Their first encounter was in Avengers #12, where the Mole Man captured Giant-Man, forcing the team to fight him in his underground lair—and also leading to a confrontation with the Red Ghost. The Mole Man resurfaced in Avengers #17, proving to be a formidable opponent. He brought reinforcements, including the powerful Minotaur, a monster the Avengers—now led by Captain America—could only defeat by working together.

5) Count Nefaria (13)

Let me tell you about Count Nefaria, a surprisingly effective villain the Avengers faced way back in their early days. He wasn’t initially presented as some world-ending threat, but he certainly made an impact when he debuted in Avengers #13. It all started with the Maggia, a criminal organization Nefaria was involved with – the Avengers were trying to shut them down, and Nefaria decided to fight back. His scheme was pretty audacious: he lured the Avengers to his castle, created duplicates of them, and then unleashed those copies to wreak havoc across the US, effectively turning the government against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. What really struck me, even reading it now, is how dangerous he was without any superpowers. The battle was brutal; Wasp actually took a shot and nearly didn’t make it. He wasn’t some cosmic being, just a clever, ruthless strategist who almost brought the Avengers down.

4) Masters of Evil

The Avengers didn’t encounter a variety of villains until issue #18 because their early adventures were largely focused on battling the Masters of Evil. Led by Baron Zemo, this group first appeared in Avengers #6 after learning Captain America had returned. Over the next two years, Zemo expanded his team to include characters like the Black Knight, Melter, Radioactive Man, Enchantress, and Executioner. They also inadvertently gave Simon Williams superpowers, transforming him into Wonder Man, though he tragically died while trying to defeat them.

3) Namor

Namor first appeared in Marvel Comics (originally published as Timely Comics) in Fantastic Four. He quickly became an enemy of the Avengers, starting with issues #3 and #4 of their comic. In issue #3, Namor aided the Hulk in a fight against the Avengers, who were trying to keep him on the team against his will. He continued his assault on the Avengers in the following issue, leading an army from Atlantis. The battle ended in a stalemate, and Namor departed believing the Avengers had been destroyed by an earthquake.

2) Kang the Conqueror/Lord Immortus

The Avengers encountered Kang the Conqueror remarkably early in their comic book history, facing him three times within their first eleven issues. However, these weren’t always the same Kang; he appeared in different forms. His first appearance as Kang (from Earth-6311) was in Avengers #8, where he defeated the team. They later managed to disable his technology, forcing him to retreat. Two issues later, in Avengers #10, they battled Immortus, unaware he was another version of the same Kang they’d already fought. Immortus used the Masters of Evil as pawns. Then, in the very next issue, Kang returned once more, establishing himself as one of the Avengers’ most dangerous and persistent foes.

1) Loki

The Avengers initially thought the Hulk was their first enemy, but Rick Jones discovered he was being manipulated. The real villain was Loki, Thor’s adopted brother – just like in the first Avengers movie, he was the one who brought the team together. While Loki had fought Thor previously in comic books, his actions this time were severe enough to force Marvel’s strongest heroes to unite and stop him. As an Asgardian God with powerful magical abilities, Loki remains one of Marvel’s most formidable villains, and the most powerful the Avengers faced at the beginning of their journey as a team.

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2026-01-24 19:17