The Avengers are the major leagues, an assemblage of the greatest heroes of all time. While the team is seemingly an even team, everyone knows that the three most important members are Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. They are the first among equals, the icons that set the tone for the rest of the team. Even when one of them is not the leader, they are the heart and soul of the group.
However, that doesn’t mean they’re the only icons. There are other heroes who have become synonymous with the team, their names belonging to the same breath as the big three of the team.
ten Namor both saved the team and faced them in combat
Namor is Marvel’s most rambunctious hero. There are times when he’s a great hero, working with the Avengers to protect the world. There are other times when he’s on the opposite side of the equation, fighting the surface world for the sake of his undersea kingdom of Atlantis. Although he was a member of the X-Men, he is best known for being part of the Avengers.
Namor’s time as the Avenger is still pretty interesting. He can be quite argumentative with his teammates, but that doesn’t stop him from saving them when they need it. For someone who caused as much trouble as he did, he remains an iconic Avenger.
9 Wonder Man is one of the toughest members of the team
Wonder Man first encountered the Avengers as a villain, given ion energy powers by the Masters of Evil and working with them to pay off his brother’s debt. He would die in that first battle, but the ion energy that now made up his body allowed him to come back to life. He joined the Avengers and became one of the team’s hardest hitters.
Wonder Man is a functionally immortal energy being with superhuman strength, unlimited stamina, and invulnerability. He’s come for the team many times, and no matter how many times he leaves the team, he always comes back to the Avengers.
8 Hulk helped found the Avengers
The Hulk, much like his former Defenders teammate Namor, has a checkered history with the Avengers. He is a founding member of the team, but Loki’s manipulation turned him against them, and they forced him out of the team. After that he mostly fought them for years but joined the team when he worked with SHIELD during Incursions.
Hulk’s role in creating the team makes him one of the most important members. Although he spent more time fighting the team than as a member, the group wouldn’t exist without him. Nothing can ever take that away from him, not even his own actions.
7 Hank Pym has been there from the start
Hank Pym is another founding Avenger. He’s gone by many codenames over the years – Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and his own name – but for better or for worse, he’s always been one of the the most important of the team. As a superhero, he’s strictly B-list, but his science is what made him stand out, including for a rather infamous reason: he created Ultron.
Hank Pym had some dark times during his years with the team, but he always bounced back. His growth powers aren’t the brightest, but he’s always there for his teammates, battling his personal demons as well as the bad guys.
6 The Wasp was the first woman to lead the Avengers
The last Founder who was neither Iron Man nor Thor is the Wasp. Janet Van Dyne joined the team alongside her boyfriend Hank Pym and proved to be a much more stable member of the team. Although she changed costumes a lot, she was always an essential heroine, her shrinking, flight and wasp stings making her a great fighter. Besides that, she was the first woman to lead the team.
The women of the Avengers are notorious for having a tough time, and Wasp was no different, but she also proved herself to be the best of the best. She’s led the team through tough times and packs more punch into a pint-sized container than anyone.
5 Regardless of his codename, Captain Marvel is an Avenger through and through
Captain Marvel is one of the most powerful heroes to ever call himself Avenger. She has had a long and strange journey with the team. Joining for the first time as Ms. Marvel, she would have some dizzying highs and terrible lows with the Avengers, but she always made it through. She left the team more than once but always came back, often more powerful than ever.
Since taking on the role of mentor Mar-Vell, Captain Marvel has become one of the most important Avengers. His stature both on the team and as a solo hero has grown exponentially, but none of this would have ever been possible without the Avengers.
4 The Vision is the Avengers’ first Android
The Marvel Universe is full of powerful artificial beings, and the most heroic is the Vision. Oddly enough, without Hank Pym’s creation of Ultron, one of the greatest Avengers of all time would never have existed. Ultron built the Vision to infiltrate the team, but instead the android decided to join them and has been a lifeline many times over the years.
The Vision dedicated his life to the Avengers like few other heroes have. His teammates taught him what it meant to be human, and he found love within the team’s ranks, marrying Scarlet Witch for a time. There are few better Avengers to have in a fight than the Vision.
3 Hawkeye is the bravest avenger
Hawkeye was a villain when Captain America gave him a chance to change his ways, and he’s never looked back since. Hawkeye’s life was never easy, before or after joining the team, but he found a new family with the Avengers, one he would die for, something that eventually happened. When he returned, the Avengers were there for him.
Hawkeye is a normal human with one of the oldest weapons on the planet, but he goes into battle against supervillains, alien invasions, gods and cosmic monsters. He’s easily the bravest Avenger, and he wouldn’t do anything for his teammates.
2 Scarlet Witch found happiness and tears with the Avengers
Scarlet Witch is one of the complicated heroes of the Marvel Universe. She started out as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants alongside her twin brother Quicksilver. The two would join the Avengers, and she’s been on the team for pretty much. Her sanity has often taken a toll on her life, but the Avengers are always there to pull her from the brink and protect her.
Scarlet Witch is the most powerful Avenger of all. This, combined with the tribulations in her life, has taken a toll on her, but the Avengers are as much her family as Quicksilver. Being an Avenger gave her a life full of love and tears like she never would have lived it otherwise, and she wouldn’t have it otherwise.
1 Black Panther’s long relationship with the Avengers has had its ups and downs
Black Panther is the most fearsome Avenger of all. The monarch of Wakanda is strong, intelligent, capable, and wealthy beyond measure. The current leader of the Avengers, he has been on the team for years. Before, he always put Wakanda first, even once joining the team just so he could spy on the team and the US government from the inside.
Black Panther’s last stint with the team was his most successful. He dedicated himself to being an Avengers like he never had before, balancing his life as king with his life as president of the Avengers. His years with the team have made him one of its biggest icons, and his profile with the team is just as high as the big three.
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