17 Comments | Add
Rate & Share:
Related Links:
Info:
THE AVENGERS: Not Quite Earth's Mightiest Heroes
A Trip to Marvel's Hall of Lame By
Chad Derdowski
December 01, 2010
Source: Mania
Comicscape: THE AVENGERS: Not Quite Earth's Mightiest Heroes
© Mania
Since their debut in 1963, the Avengers have been billed as “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. Judging by the current lineup, that title seems fairly appropriate. Of course, when your membership includes nearly every active hero in the Marvel Universe, you win by default. It doesn’t matter if Squirrel Girl is on the team, when you’ve got Thor, Iron Man, both Captain Americas, Spider-Man, the Thing and Wolverine, you can call yourselves whatever you want to.
But if one was to take a trip through time to examine past, the cracks in the façade begin to show. The original team wasn’t just Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; at the time, they were pretty much Marvel’s only heroes and while the lineup consisted of heavy-hitters like Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, it also included Ant Man and the Wasp who, combined, were actually a lot less mighty than Spider-Man (who was still just a kid at the time). Even during the formative years of the team, the Avengers were taking liberties with the rules, finding loopholes in order to make claims that, while not exactly false, do not accurately represent the brand.
The Villains
So the Hulk left the team and Captain America joined. That seems like a fair trade and it goes a long way towards claiming that “mightiest” label. But when ¾ of the team bailed on Cap, he had no alternative but to replace them with a team consisting solely of costumed criminals. Mighty? No doubt. Heroes? Not exactly. But everyone deserves a second chance and we give Cap a lot of credit for not only seeing the good in everyone, but for finding yet another loophole and managing to maintain the franchise.
Despite turning Avengers Mansion into the Marvel Universe version of the Island of Misfit Toys, Captain America managed to mold this team of illigitimate children and thieves into a fine fighting force and soon added another member to their ranks, albiet briefly. That legendary hero is one who needs no introduction: he is the man known far and wide as the Swordsman, one of the many great creations of the Marvel Age. A hero so well known and respected, Hollywood still hasn’t adapted his exploits into film for fear of mucking it up and forever alienating fans and ticketbuyers.
Ha, just kidding. Swordsman sucks and he got kicked out the very same issue.
Continuing the Tradition of Excellence
The next few recruits were actually fairly impressive, as Black Panther, Vision and Hercules joined the team. Granted, Hercules is really just a poor man’s Thor, but he’s some sort of mythological figure and he is pretty mighty. Plus, he was renowned for his prowess with the ladies, actually managing to get a few girls into the Avengers Mansion and dispelling the rumors that surrounded the team at the time. Black Panther was a king, a technological genius and had an awesome name and costume. Vision? He was an android that cried and eventually went on to sire children with his smokin’ hot and certifiably insane wife. So that’s impressive, right? That’s mighty, right?
Oh, and then there was Black Knight, one of the worst films Martin Lawrence has ever made. How that man managed to sustain a career after that turd is… oh sorry, wrong Black Knight. Well, that guy sucked too.
The Disco Era
Our walk down memory lane continues to shed light on the reasons why Kang kept coming back to challenge the Avengers time and again. With winners like Mantis, Moondragon and Wonder Man on the team, it’s no wonder he felt confident enough to travel through time in order to defeat them. This was the 1970’s, an era in which drug use was becoming more acceptable, and apparently it reached the Marvel Bullpen. There is perhaps no greater example of this than the addition of the Two-Gun Kid, a time-displaced cowboy from Marvel’s Golden Age. After finding himself in the 20th century, the Kid joined Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for a spell before leaving to wander through America with Hawkeye and eventually being sent back to his proper time.
This was also the era of women’s lib and the team gained the previously mentioned Mantis and Moondragon, two female heroes that you’ve likely never heard of, along with Black Widow, Hellcat and Ms. Marvel. The Widow and Ms. Marvel became mainstays of the team and are still major players today, so we can’t really say much against them. However, Black Widow’s status as a former supervillain and Soviet spy again brings the title of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” into question.
Oh, and Hellcat? She was a rebooted character from a romance comic whose father-in-law is the devil. Mighty. Reeeaaal mighty.
The Me Generation & the Grunge Years
There were a fair amount of Avengers recruits in the 1980’s – far too many to insult all of them today, so we’ll just run down a list of names and let you judge for yourself: Tigra, Starfox, Dr. Druid, Firebird, Darkhawk, Living Lightning and Spider-Woman (not the hot one). So you see our point.
Sure, you had Namor, the lady Captain Marvel and the Thing on the team briefly, but you also had Demolition Man, the Forgotten One, Quasar and Stingray. Seriously folks, DEMOLITION MAN. A guy whose costume consisted of Daredevil’s discarded circus outfit and Wolverine’s mask was allowed to represent the greatest heroes on earth. And who the hell is Triathlon?
These are your Avengers. These are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. It’s no wonder the book was considered a joke before that whole Avengers: Disassembled storyline went down. They allowed Rage and Thunderstrike on the team! Firestar, a Mary Jane Watson clone from a cartoon show, was allowed on the team. How could anyone take them seriously? How could they call themselves Earth’s Mightiest with a roster like that?
Hey, does anybody remember when everyone on the team wore matching leather jackets emblazoned with an Avengers logo? Yeah, we thought so.
The Bendis Era
By the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, Marvel realized that the Avengers could (and should) be their bread n’ butter and went back to the notion of packing the team with heavy hitters and star players in an attempt to earn the title of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Of course these days, everybody’s an Avenger. There’s like, 15 teams and Wolverine’s on every one of them. By 2015, every Marvel book will feature the word “Avengers” in the title and will be preceded by the letter X. It’s hard to dispute the fact that the team is the mightiest when the roster consists of the entire Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
Still… Jewel? That lady hasn’t had a hit since the mid-‘90s. That hardly qualifies her as one of “earths mightiest”.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
Hey you forgot the X-Men's Beast was a member of the Avengers. I read the comic back in the 80's when Captain Marvel (female) was a member. I liked it. I tried to get into West Coast Avengers, but it didn't do it for me.