Assuming you haven’t turned on the TV since February or been to the theater in the last couple of years, you might not be aware of it, but there’s an Avengers movie coming out tomorrow. With Joss Whedon directing and a slew of successful solo superhero films preceding it, expectations are high, and nerds like myself are already falling over themselves, picking apart trailers and speculating on which heroes might make cameos.
But running time is scarce and, for a team that’s been around since 1963 and frequently switches members, you can bet there are a lot of characters that won’t make the cut. That may be for the best, because the Avengers have certainly seen their share of unimpressive members over the years. Here are ten that you can bet won’t be making it onto even a direct-to-video sequel in the years to come:
10. Moon Knight
Moon Knight is a Batman-esque urban vigilante who dresses entirely in white in order to better conceal himself in the shadows and skulk around dark alleys. That should tell you all you need to know about his mental state but, just in case, he’s an ex-mercenary who struggles with multiple personality disorder, occasional hallucinations, and uncontrollable violent rages. This makes him the only superhero who might save you from a mugger, then suddenly realize you’re his great-aunt Mildred who died back in ’82…and he hated his great-aunt Mildred.
Moon Knight actually works pretty well as a solo character, but whoever gave this man an Avengers ID card should be shot. Do you want to charge into battle alongside a non-powered human target who at any given moment might decide he’s a destitute cab driver and you just tried to stiff him on a fare? My most vivid memory of Moon Knight as an Avenger was when he called an immediately post-coital Spider-Man to summon him to some emergency. That’s Moon Knight: ruining the afterglow since 1975.
9. Jack of Hearts
Jack of Hearts wins the “originality in superhero names” award going away, since his real name actually is “Jack Hart.” Given that, you can almost forgive him for trying to make a playing-card-themed superhero identity work. Almost. But then you remember there is no “Captain Rook” or “Miniature Top Hat Man” and he’s ridiculous again. The costume certainly contributes to that, with the high shoulders and asymmetrical face shading. I guess Jack of Hearts figures that if it works at a child’s birthday party, it’ll work when fighting the Masters of Evil. But it won’t, Jack. And the arrow pointing at your crotch might be sending the wrong message.
Jack eventually suffered a really ignominious death (faced with living in a containment tube 14 hours a day, he instead flew into space and exploded; then his zombified corpse was used to bomb Avengers Mansion), which almost makes you want to exclude him from this list out of pure sympathy. But then you remember that cool characters almost always get noble, grandiose deaths, and there’s a reason Jack of Hearts didn’t. Sorry, Jack.
8. U.S. Agent
Hey look, it’s black Captain America! Uh…but not in a racist way. More of an “I forget what colors are on the American flag” way.
U.S. Agent’s worst sin is redundancy. As you’d expect, the Avengers kind of already have the “athletic guy with a shield” role covered, and if they need an arrogant, impulsive jerk who won’t take direction, they’ve got Hawkeye and Quicksilver on speed dial. War Machine is in a similar boat, but at least he’s best friends with Iron Man; Cap and the Agent don’t even like each other. Not surprisingly, that doesn’t make for a lot of panel time on a team whose name is frequently preceded by “Captain America and the…” U.S. Agent is essentially relegated to the role of Cap understudy, waiting for a man whose childhood friends and family are all busy playing shuffleboard or moldering in the ground to somehow be unavailable. He spends most days sitting patiently by the phone, afraid to go out for fear of missing the call about a major crisis that requires the aid of Every Avenger Ever. Waiting…waiting…
7. Doctor Druid
Let’s get it out of the way first: “balding” is not a good look on a superhero. It’s superficial and all, but when you’re talking about a universe where everyone looks like a supermodel or a male stripper, the George Costanza look is going to stand out. Still, that’s not enough to consign Doctor Druid to this list.
No, what hurts him is that he’s a magician whose name is not “Doctor Strange.” Fair or not, popular characters carve out niches in superhero universes, and everyone else instantly becomes an also-ran. Thus, anyone’s reaction to seeing Doctor Druid is an automatic “Oh… uh, so I guess Doctor Strange wasn’t available?” You can’t blame them- Doc Strange has a luxurious head of hair, a mansion in the heart of New York, and a hot alien princess for a lover. Doctor Druid has, presumably, a 1-bedroom in Newark, a locker at the YMCA where he keeps his stuff, and a windowless van with Celtic runes spray-painted on it.
Ironically, Doctor Druid actually predates Strange and his origin is basically the same, which does not help him seem less superfluous. His tenure with the Avengers is not doing him any favors either, since he got seduced by a villainess and ended up destroying the team for a while. But really, it’s hard to fault the guy too much for that — when you look like an Ancient Cultures professor from the local community college who’s role-playing as a superhero, you have to take the loving where it finds you.
6. The Sentry
Sentry is that rare character on this list who WAS cool right up until he joined the Avengers, and then immediately stopped. Originally presented as a “lost” character, the Sentry’s deal was that he was once the Marvel Universe’s greatest hero. But because his dark side, the Void, was so dangerous, he volunteered to have his existence erased from the minds of everyone on Earth, including himself, stranding him in his human identity forever. And that’s fine — a little cheesy, maybe, but a perfectly decent story.
But then they brought him back as a mental patient who had killed his wife. Then they revealed his wife wasn’t actually dead, but he still had mental problems that made him afraid to use his powers. Then we learned he didn’t actually get his powers in a lab accident, but rather was a junkie who broke into the lab and swallowed this weird serum looking for a fix. Then his wife actually died but he resurrected her himself, causing her to beg Iron Man to kill her husband. Then a bunch of bad guys took over the government for a while and got him on their side. Finally he went completely nuts, killed some people and an Avenger or two, and had to be put down. Seriously, great story arc, Marvel. Inspiring and cohesive!
5. Deathcry
Be honest — can’t you kind of tell Deathcry sucks just from the picture? She has the stink of “X-treme!!!” all over her, from the mismatched costume to the tribal tattoos to her Wolverine hair, and that’s not even getting into the name. Avengers don’t kill, so either Deathcry’s codename is writing checks her body can’t cash, or she’s referring to her own exclamations of expiration; either way, it’s less than threatening.
She also has the misfortune to be associated with the worst period in Avengers history, when everyone was wearing extraneous bomber jackets and Iron Man was killing his teammates off because surprise, he was evil all along!…yeah, don’t ask.
Despite in theory being 16 years old, Deathcry was created at a time when female characters were basically mobile breast platforms, and she looks it. However, she’s also from an avian race of aliens with vestigial feathers. That means at some point, a writer sat at his keyboard and thought, “Okay, here’s one for all the guys out there who are romantically attracted to birds.” The sad part is, he was right — you know that someone, somewhere in the world has fantasized about Deathcry. And there is a remote but real possibility that you have shaken that man’s hand at some point in your life. I’ll just let that one digest for a little while.
4. Swordsman
Damn, does this guy look goofy. The trick with archery-based characters like Hawkeye and Green Arrow is how to make them seem useful on a team with guys like Superman or Thor. It can be done, but writers really have to get creative to invent situations where an arrow will do the job in a way that heat vision or repulsor rays just won’t.
But at least an arrow is a ranged weapon; think how much harder it is to make a character work when his power is that he, uh, has a sword. And he’s pretty good at using it. That puts Swordsman on a par with every guy who’s ever attended a Renaissance Faire.
The Swordsman’s tragedy is that he’s an Inigo Montoya guy in a Tony Montana world. Sure, he has “trick swords” that can shoot electricity and nerve gas and flames, but that basically just brings him up to the Penguin’s level of threatening. You’ve still got to work like hell to convince me he’ll be able to foil a simple convenience store robbery if the perp has an uzi or a shotgun. The Avengers regularly go up against cosmic beings and gods. Captain America needs to be there to lead everyone and strategize, and at least Hawkeye might be able to land a lucky shot in the villain’s eye or something. What’s Swordsman going to do? Nothing. Go away, Swordsman.
3. Starfox
Hoo boy, Starfox. What do you say about the only Avenger who costs the team more in paternity suits than property damage? Aside from the standard strength/durability/flight that a lot of superheroes have, Starfox possesses the ability to stimulate the pleasure centers in a person’s mind, making them calmer and more susceptible to suggestion. I’ll bet that makes him popular at frat parties. He’s also a hedonist who spends all his non-Avenging time traveling to various “pleasure planets,” which is as close as Marvel Comics will ever get to saying this guy likes playing the field and group stuff.
Okay, so the man’s a walking, talking roofie colada, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. He’s probably really responsible about using his abilities, right? Well, he was once sued by a married woman who claimed he used his powers to make her cheat on her husband with him. Then his lawyer, She-Hulk, started wondering if he’d used them to initiate the one-night stand they once had. So he agreed to have his mind read, which revealed that he didn’t use his powers to make She-Hulk sleep with him…but he HAD used them to make her fall in love with (and marry) some other guy. Oh, and he was banned from the courtroom for using his powers to influence witnesses. Sounds like Avengers material to us!
2. D-Man
D-Man is one of those characters created to be a hard-luck success story, only he never became very successful. Wearing an outfit modeled on Daredevil’s short-lived original costume, D-Man started off as a member of a super-powered wrestling league (…yeah), but his strength was coming from a highly addictive drug. Eventually kicking the habit, D-Man helped Captain America a few times and finagled a sympathy “Yeah, sure, you’re an Avenger… uh, we’ll call you if a REALLY big menace comes along. Something worthy of you” kind of membership.
That’s fine, every team needs a mascot, as long as the Philly Phanatic doesn’t think he’s going to be out there shagging fly balls in an actual game, if you get my drift.
D-Man eventually ended up the protector of a community of homeless people, leading to a hilarious scene where the Sub-Mariner complained about his stench, suggesting he might be more at home with the less-choosy X-Men. When a guy who smells like a combination of tuna and low tide is griping about your odor, you know you have a problem. Writers continue using D-Man as a punchline to this day, recently having him be turned down for a nanny gig watching a fellow superhero’s kid. That’s sad, but can you blame anyone? He has a child molester beard and his name is two letters away from “D-Bag.” You need to dress for the job you want, D-Man. Also, a bar of soap would not be a bad idea. Don’t eat it.
1. Gilgamesh the Forgotten One
Wow, where do you start with Gilgamesh? I guess the costume, since wearing horns and the upper half of a cow face on your head will never, ever be cool. I also don’t think the skirt is going to strike fear into the hearts of evildoers, and there are way too many colors working at odds in that outfit. He’s obviously based on an actual mythical hero, but not one of the cool ones like Hercules or King Arthur. Instead, Gilgamesh has to hope you’re familiar with the exploits of an ancient Sumerian king and, even for nerds, that’s pushing it.
He also suffers from the redundancy that hits so many of the heroes on this list — the Avengers already have Thor for their neo-classical bruiser and Hercules for when writers are tired of Thor, so what possible use could Gilgamesh serve? He’s third-string, useful only for anniversary issues or a cheap death to make a new villain seem more deadly. Even his full name encourages you to overlook him. I’m just saying, when your heyday was 4500 years ago and you consider Beowulf a promising young talent, it might be time to pack it in. We’ll always have Babylon, G.
Written By Drew Anderson
72 Comments
Hey, sentry rocks dude. He defeated hulk during world war hulk, wat more you want from him?
Okay, I’m not sure if you mean the ten worst team players if so I could agree with you on some points, if you mean the ten avengers you actually think are lame then you truly have INFURIATED me, let me tell you some of what I think.
Wolverine-Over exposed should have only stayed on one team.
The Sentry-Over powered he seriously upstaged the rest of the team.
Starfox-Too gross.
Gilgamesh-Redundant
The Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman-they are just not necessary avengers characters.
I think these characters I just mentioned don’t really fit in with the other avengers team but I would never EVER EVER say that they are lame. As for U.S. Agent, Moon Knight and Swordsman they made fine Avengers not my favorites but they were still cool, as for the rest of your list I could say I agree.
Here’s a few more lame-os :
Paste-Pot Pete, Angus the Screamer, and a really obscure character, Goody Two-Shoes, who i think only had one appearance in the short-lived Thing series.
Great to see all the Moon Knight love in the comments! 🙂
For what it’s worth, the ONLY series where Moon Knight had multiple personality disorder was West Coast Avengers and Bendis’ latest run–a mere 32 of his 700-odd appearances. In EVERYTHING ELSE, the identities of Jake Lockley and Steven Grant are merely guises to gather information, and who’s to say if his visions of Khonshu are real or not. It’s never explicitly been explained.
Cockroach didn’t even make the list? Really? All he could do was fly and stink. That’s like having Thor wear a bug costume and rip a cosmic fart!
Us agent shouldn’t be put down he came is solely as a replacement for Cap Am or was on another Avengers team in Cap Am’ stead. I loved us Agent on the MIghty avengers, one of my favorite marvel teams! They shouldn’t have made him into a crippled has been!
Umm….Cockroach anyone? http://marvel.wikia.com/Cockroach_%28Earth-615.9%29
Ohh c’mon, really? You forgot Marvels salute’s to Yoko Ono and Persis Khambatta
I could not stop laughing. This article was absolutely hilarious.
There’s a lot wrong with this list. Swordsman has been revamped pretty well, and Moon Knight has turned into one of the coolest characters in Marvel. The two images you’ve shown of MK are totally awesome, so I don’t know who was in charge of making this list because, well…I’ll just assume he’s underpaid and indifferent.
The concept of MoonKnight was great. The original comics before he joined the Avengers were oustanding. After a while Marvel made him nothing more than a Batman clone. If they would have kept the egyptian theme to him and got better writers it could have been a great comic character.
Including Moon Knight on this list is the biggest noob mistake a writer could possibly make. I will avoid this website like the plague in the future.
Moon Knight had powers. Look it up. US Agent, like another said, replaced Cap for a bit. He wasn’t intended to be CAP for the long run and there was some fights between them. He is more like Guy Garner, who is a GL that always pissed off Hal Jordan and the others. Arrogant and cocky, thinking he was better than the original.
Moon Knight could be a good character, if done right. But he’s not really a top Marvel Character. But who knows what will happen with the Marvel NOW being slated to begin…
If Starfox does get into an Avengers movie they could cast Matthew McConaughey.
I can’t think of a better casting choice. Kudos!
And I spent about 10 minutes creating this monstrosity, but it gives you an idea of this glorious union.
Moon Knight? Really?
Hes not as mentally handicapped as your thinking
You a fan of superman, well i hate him because
He was created to be the most overpowered superhero but can be killed with a glowing green rock
it depends on how you describe them
do your research and you’ll find out that Moon Knight is one of the most awesome Marvel Heroes out there
The writing of this was hilarious to me. Drew, if you have a Twitter, would like to follow and be amused.
Several problems with this list:
1. What makes the Avenger lame? Out-of-universe lack of originality or bad writing or art choices? Or is it in-universe redundancy, instability or inability to function usefully on a team? Either could make a good list, but mixing them confuses the issue.
Sentry works for both sets of reasons, but most of the rest are one or the other.
2. Factual errors make it seem like the author didn’t bother to do any research before posting this. Examples:
a.) The Swordsman’s sword was given to him when he worked for the Mandarin, and contains energy weapons, including a repulsor beam, a disintegration ray, an electrical arc generator that can stun like a taser or kill, a flame generator, and gas nozzles that can release tranquilizing neurotoxin. In other words, it’s not one distance weapon, it’s several. Not knowing that makes it look like you based your criticism on looking at the picture, and nothing else. Also, under the “cool heroes get a meaningful death rule,” Swordsman dies protecting the Celestial Madonna from Kang the Conqueror, then gets temporarily brought back to life to father the Celestial Messiah. Fairly meaningful.
b.) Moon Knight does have powers, derived from the Egyptian god Khonshu, God of the Moon, Time and Vengeance. For instance, his strength, agility and endurance are higher at night, and wax and wane with the phases of the Moon, so that at night during a full Moon he has fairly significant superhuman abilities. He also has visions of past and future events granted by Khonshu. Oh, and he didn’t join the Avengers. Khonshu did. Khonshu possessed Moon Knight and joined the Avengers after Hawkeye had been sent to ancient Egypt and prayed to Khonshu to get a message to Moon Knight in the present to rescue him. After Khonshu stopped inhabiting the Moon Knight’s body, Moon Knight quit the team. So he’d probably agree he works better solo.
If you want to do an article about a subject, it helps to research it first.
I may be mistaken but think the author was thinking about Moon Knight’s run with the Secret Avengers, and you were mentioning West coast Avengers, which is, by the way, a great comic book.
The whole point of this top ten was to be funny i guess, but i agree with you that characters are not necesarily good or bad avengers, it depends mostly of the work of the writer and, of course, the affinity this particular writer has with each character.
Also, a team of superheroes is often composed of a big number of second choice heroes, the idea is to give those heroes some light because they’re not popular enough to have their own title. Cyclops would be a good example of a character who only exists through the X-Men. So, in the case of the avengers, it’s quite logical to have a core of popular heroes (Captain, Thor, Iron-Man), and then a circle of “not so popular heroes” (that doesn’t mean that there are not good characters) like Black Widow, Vision, Black Panther…. And then another circle of “who’s left in the official handbook of the Marvel Universe who isn’t dead yet or can be resuscitated “. Gilgamesh and D-Man belong clearly in this last circle.
Remove Moon Knight and replace him with Squirrel Girl
I can’t believe that Sentry and Moon Knight are on here either! When all other Avengers beat a hasty retreat it was Sentry that was holding down Ultron! Sentry could have handed Thor his back side in Seige if it was not for the fact that he ALLOWED Thor to do him in. Yeah, Sentry is not the kind of guy you call in to fight Wrecker, Mystique or even Magneto. Sentry is the one you call when you need someone who can deal with Thanos!
The writers did Sentry wrong and he should be back. Wonder man SHOULD NOT be on this list!
The Mighty Avengers was one of the best teams ever for the 13 issues it lasted before going all to hell.
I like Antman , Ares and even Black Widow but I would take Sentry and Moon Knight over them any day.
Sentry is definitely a heavy hitter. The problem with guys with his kind of power level is that it become problematic to fit them into a team environment without them overshadowing everyone else. Writers usually deal with this by either annoyingly making the character less powerful than they are otherwise or (and equally annoying) making the villians a whole lot more powerful than normal. In Sentry’s case, they infused the guy with all these psychological issues that basically render him ineffective more often than not, or at least a shadow of his heroic “former’ days. Unfortunately, this tack leaves Sentry as 1) a team member who doesn’t fit cohesively with the rest of the team and 2) an uninteresting character that the reader would just as well prefer that the writer would forget about him.
Superman commonly has this exact same issue with the League. How often has the JL fought a villian that Supes should have been able to wipe the floor with all on his own? Instead, you find the bad guy inexplicably giving Kal a run for his money. I find this really annoying.
Sentry was a badly handled character from the start, Marvel wanted to create its own Superman but failed, storyline was confusing and character was too lunatic to last long. Also DC tried the “greatest hero of all time that nobody remembers” storyline with Triumph and also failed.
I think readers appreciate new characters when they build their reputation one step at the time, having a new character appearing with no history that is supposed to be bigger than the big guy who’s been here since your daddy was in diapers, is not a good idea.
Don’t see Wonderman on the list. He should be there instead of Jack-of-Hearts IMO
i love moonknight and the sentry
This was clearly written by someone who has not actually read any of the Avengers stories featuring these characters. It seems the author just saw them, pulled up a Wiki profile and proceeded to write his article from there. Aside from Deathcry, all these people figured into some excellent Avenger’s storylines. The author needs to actually read the source material before writing such drivel.
Moon Knight is a powered, his strenght wanes with the phases of the moon.
Usagent was a good character, I mean how many spider clones running around marvel.
Moon Knight makes the list over the Two Gun Kid? I’d rather fight along a multiple personality anti-hero than a wanna-be cowboy in a leopard skin vest.
Oh and U.S. Agent does deserve some cookie point since he did actually have a turn as Captain America
I completely disagree with moon knight being on this. In fact, he’s one of the under-estimated, under-appreciated characters of Marvel. Horrible selection. I don’t know if you read comics, sir.
How dare you put Moonknight on this list,do you even read comics or are you pulling straws.
Obviously this guy didn’t do his research.
Moon Knight should not be on this list. The very idea that he would be considered one of the “lamest avengers” is just insulting.
**FAILED** you said something about how to make swordman seem useful on a team with guys like “Superman or Thor” you Failed My friend! Superman is not even in this Universe =_=
You have to read, my friend!
Moon Knight is a total bad ass. And The Sentry is something completely new! He is afraid of how powerful he is which makes sense! Sentry is the most powerful being in the Marvel universe!
Moon Knight is my favorite Marvel hero and he is a boss. He’s way cooler than anyone and he doesn’t decide he’s a taxi driver. He’s Batman that decides to copy other heroes when he wants. He was on IGN’s list of 100 best heroes
Very glad to see all the Moon Knight love, Hes awesome. He wears white on purpose to be MORE visible, the writer of this article clearly knows nothing of Moon Knight. His insanity makes him more likeable and more relatable. He’s not this perfect symbol like Batman but that’s a good thing, plus he beats the piss out of taskmaster…. so cool, my favorite.
I love how you don’t read the entire entry before commenting. The writer clearly states that Moon Knight is a great solo character, but a lousy Avenger. The point of the article is to highlight characters that do not fit into the team, which Moon Knight clearly doesn’t.
Nope the list is titled “Lamest Avengers.” There isn’t anything lame about Moon Knight. The writer is clearly dogging him as a hero, his description isn’t flattering. Further more, as long as he isn’t riding shotgun with Hawk-eye, he’s a pretty stable avenger.
I totally agree with Spenser
How can you say he was a stable character? I loved him, but he left the Avengers when he murdered someone. He’s a great character but never fit with them. He just doesn’t belong with a team. I wish they’d give him a movie.
Did you forget that Sentry is one of the most powerful superheroes in Marvel? He has the power of a thousand exploding suns. He emitted a light energy that calmed the Hulk down. He ripped Ares (the God of War) in half. Sentry’s powers are limitless, and may even rival those of the Silver Surfer’s and Phoenix’s. So, I wouldn’t count Sentry as one of the lamest Avengers.
Sentry was also a lousy team member. That is the point of the list. Not power levels, but effectiveness as a time member
Moon Knight and Jack of Hearts don’t belong anywhere near this list. Silverclaw and Triathlon, on the other hand, should be fighting Gilgamesh for the top spot.
Just for people that don’t know:
He dresses in white because he wants his victims to see that flash of white descend on them before they die, he wants them to KNOW what killed them.
He is not so insane that he thinks it somehow helps him be stealthier.
Also… Sentry has the power of one million exploding suns… >.> That’s all I have to say about that.
Great list! I have no issues with it (not even Moon Knight, since he’s a loner).
My comments on some others:
Black Knight: Better than Swordsman, but he had that curse where he couldn’t draw blood. Why even have the sword? LAME.
Mantis: A pet peeve of writer Steve Englehart, she was always out of place for me.
Moondragon: Sexy bald chick, but so cold and out of place. Forced in.
Hellcat: Pasty Walker being an Avenger is beyond absurd.
Two-Gun Kid: I’m okay with a time displaced honorary member.
Tigra: She was sexy to me when I was younger, but that’s about it.
Captain Marvel: Had issues with her leading the team. Seemed like affirmative action plus female power, but they kept writing her as not being confident. Lame second string name.
Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman: Uhmm……real lame.
Sersi: Seemed like a D-list background character.
Stringray: I pretty much stopped reading The Avengers every month.
Spider-Man: Goes against the core character.
Rage: Power-Man light.
Living Lightning: West Coast started to suck then.
Spider-Woman: See above.
Crystal: One of those characters that jumps from FF to Avengers. Overrated Inhuman.
Moondragon was awful with her arrogant ways, was not much of a Tigra fan either…preferred Hellcat!
Tigra is vastly underrated and misused.
Think about it, she’s a WERETIGER. How is that so hard to make cool? if a werewolf is scary and awesome, a tiger is ten times more so. Claws, teeth, superhuman strength and speed, she could and should be shredding anyone in the same power league as Spider-Man and that’s nothing to complain about. Her claws can cut sheet metal. She can throw small cars. She can punch a hole in a brick wall. And she can track you by scent and stalk you so you never see her coming, until her teeth close on your throat.
The only thing about Tigra that isn’t badass is the pathetic way she’s been written.
Anyone remember this dude?
Puck!
Despite amazing timing, and saving the day once or twice. Still. Highly lame.
He does cartwheels.
Like, thats it.
Puck wasn’t ever in the Avengers was he? I thought he was strictly Alpha Flight?
Good list. enjoyable read and it made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Reading some of the comments, who knew there were so many Moon Knight fans? His writers have done him an injustice over the years as his image is much better than his stories.
I tend to agree that Moon Knight is not a bad character and not a bad avenger, especially in Secret Avengers but i do agree that the last incarnations of the character are not as good as the initial run by Moench and Sienkiewicz, the fact that they recently turned him into a crazy guy doesn’t make him really appealing. I’ve never been a fan of US agent aka “right wing captain America” but he was an interesting character, especially in West Coast Avengers. Also sometimes weak characters can make interesting group heroes since they couldn’t make it on their own. I may shock some people here but i don’t think Spider-Man makes a good avenger, he’s so powerful as a solo act that being in so powerful a group kind of reduce his efficiency. Same goes for Daredevil by the way.
That being said there are a few “weak” characters that didn’t make the list, “Two-gun kid” is one who was clearly out of place in the Avengers; “Sandman” as well; “Triathlon” was really not Busiek’s best idea…
Anyway, each character can be lame or not in a group, depending on the writer….except D-Man, he’s lame whatever he does 🙂
Actually, Brian Michael Bendis just put out one of the most FANTASTIC Moon Knight stories in years. And that just ended like a couple months ago.
Not a big fan of Bendis’s vision of Moon Knight, his Daredevil was good but i always thought he kinda missed the point of Moon Knight ans since it was cancelled i don’t think it was a huge success.
I don’t know any of the others, still new to the entirety of the marvel universe, but I do agree that Spider-man and Daredevil are better solo. A partner or team would get in the way of Daredevil’s senses, and Spider-man has the powers and senses of one of the most amazing solo hunting predators in nature. Like Daredevil, a partner would just get in the way.
How DARE you put Moon Knight on this list.
Nice list but a bit confusing while reading. Also would have been nice if the powers of the characters were also mentioned.
Actually, both Moon Knight and US Agent made it to be playable characters in Marvel: Ultimate Aliance. US Agent was just an alternate costume for Captain America, but Moon Knight was his own character.
Well Captain America wore the black costume when he gave up (again) his captain America identity and US agent took his identity and shield. After a while steve rogers took back his costume and US agent ended with the black costume. Long story short, Captain America did wear the black costume that’s why it’s available as an alternate costume in the game.
US Agent and Moon Knight are great characters, and Deathcry was an X-Men villain. D-Man’s costume looks like Dare Devil’s first costume.
Agreed, but like he says they work pretty well as a solo characters, but whoever gave them Avengers ID card should be shot!
I am not a comic book person but D-man’s costume resembles Wolverine’s.
It is. Daredevil’s old costume (that’s why there’s a ‘D’ on it.) and a thrown away Wolverine mask.
Moon Knight and US Agent? Seriously? Their names don’t belong anywhere near this list.
US Agent exists because he was Captain America for a while. Duh. Then he fulfilled the Captain America role for the West Coast Avengers.
And the reasons Moon Knight shouldn’t be mentioned here are so obvious that having to list them would be an insult to both of us.
You couldn’t find a better candidate than Moon Knight? Gilgamesh? Hellcat? Silverclaw? Living Lightning? Triathalon? The Falcon? Antman? Do you really think Ant Man is cooler than Moon Knight? (He’s not.) Even the picture of Moon Knight that you used proves you wrong.
did you read the list? gilgamesh is on there
I 100% agree. MoonKnight and U.S Agent where great charicters. Not to mention to theperson that wrote this article you really have to brush up on Moonknight your break down of his charicter is way off base. By the way he did have super powers, they got more powerful ccording to how full the moon was, hence MoonKnight.
I loved Moon Knight. Great character, just not a team player, or a superhero kind of guy.
I agree, Moon Knight does not belong, and Jack of Hearts was originally a very cool character back when the Avengers used to fight intergalactic bad guys.
The Initiative gives you tons of opportunities to swap people on this list out (Thor Girl, Wundarr the Aquarian, Pay Dirt, Stunt Master, Frog Man – OK, he was a Skrull, but come on – Frog Man?, Butterball).
If you think that’s cheating, there’s Two Gun Kid, Jocasta, Power Woman (I thought names like that went out in the 60s)
Yep – During his stint with the West Coast Avengers Moon Knight did have his Fist of Khonshu super powers. At the time his multiple personalities were more just like multiple identies but a little extreme – certainly not multiple personality disorder.
And don’t forget he banged Tigra.
You forgot to include the Swordsman’s rival the Black Knight, who, has no superpowers but is excellent at riding a horse. Which would be great for a rodeo but not for fighting bad guys that fly and/ or can drive a car.
Also, Hellcat was an Avenger. Hellcat was basically Catwoman in a yellow costume. No special powers just a fixation with cats.
Funny list by the way, especially your description of Starfox.
StarFox is a little icky and should not be on any team.
Sentry’s problem was that he was too damn powerful for his own good. You can’t write effective stories with a character that powerful. Sure his is called Marvel’s Superman, but DC did not have as much trouble with Superman as Marvel did with Sentry.