When Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman saw the colossal success of DC Comics Justice League of America, he told his editor-in-chief Stan Lee to copy that approach. Still wary of the superhero bust that tanked most comic book companies after World War II, Lee followed his editor’s advice just in part, creating a family of scientists and explorers called the Fantastic Four.
But after the Fantastic Four made Marvel a hit, Lee then embraced the Justice League model and assembled the mightiest heroes of his universe.
Since the initial team-up of Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, and Ant-Man, the Avengers (and Avengers comics) have grown and changed into not just Marvel’s flagship team, but one of the most popular superhero groups in the world.
1. Avengers #41 – 55 (2001 – 2002)
After a fallow period throughout the late 80s and most of the 90s, Avengers comics enjoyed a renaissance thanks to a superstar creative team, helmed by writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Pérez. With a giant roster and the return of the team’s best antagonists, the Busiek and Pérez crafted some of the best Avenger adventures of all time, including the epic The Kang Dynasty.
Written by Busiek and drawn by artists such as Manuel Garcia and Bob Layton, Kieron Dwyer and Rick Remender, and Ivan Reis and Randy Emberlin, the story begins with the time-traveling warlord coming qto the Avengers with a simple proposition. Arguing that the team will fall if they try to face the oncoming threat, Kang urges them to accept his rule or perish. Of course, the Avengers resist, leading to a fifteen-issue story that finds the team hitting rock bottom and battling their way back.
2. Avengers #89 – 97 (1971 – 1972)
These days, every hero gets large-scale, multi-issue adventures, not just the Avengers. But that was not the norm in the 60s, at least until writer Roy Thomas and artists Neal Adams and John Buscema started playing with the form in Avengers #89 – 97. The Kree/Skrull war puts Earth’s Mightiest Heroes between warring alien races the Kree and the Skrulls.
With the help of renegade Kree Captain Marvel (a mantle still used by Mar-Vell, not Carol Danvers, at the time), the Avengers do their best to prevent Earth from becoming collateral damage. Thomas, Adams, and Buscema, along with inker Tom Palmer and letterer Sam Rosen, set the model that all superhero comics would later follow.
3. Avengers #19-22 (1999)
Before telling the definitive Kang the Conquerer story, Busiek and Pérez updated the maniacal android Ultron.
Ultron Unlimited begins with the homicidal robot conquering the fictional European nation Slorenia. The Avengers assemble to prevent Ultron from expanding his empire to the rest of the world, leading to a brutal battle between the heroes and Ultron’s legions of drones. Thanks to Busiek and Pérez’s perfect storytelling instincts — along with fine work from inker Al Vey, colorist Tom Smith, and letterer Richard Starkings — Ultron Unlimited features many iconic moments, including a battered Thor declaring, “Ultron, we would have words with thee.”
4. Avengers #1-7 (2012)
Although writer Jonathan Hickman’s run on Avengers leads to the Secret Wars event, in which the Marvel Universe as they knew it ends and gets reborn, it begins with a few exhilarating story arcs. With artist Jerome Opeña, colorist Dean White, and letterer Cory Petit, Hickman introduces the Avengers Machine, a large-scale version of the team that Captain America and Iron Man designed to meet every possible challenge that faces the galaxy.
Combining mainstays such as Cap, Thor, and Black Panther with surprising additions such as Shang-Chi, Sunspot, and Hyperion, Hickman’s Avengers are the right team to oversee the end of the world.
5. New Avengers 1-7 (2013)
While the mainline Avengers fight in the sunlight, writer Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers make impossible choices in the dark. Consisting of the Illuminati — a gathering of Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, and the world’s other greatest leaders — New Avengers comics follow the team’s attempts to prevent incursions from other realities from destroying the planet.
With such stark stakes, the New Avengers have to compromise their morals time and again, making the book almost a horror story as much as a superhero story. Hickman has a fantastic creative team to help him craft these complex stories, including artist Steve Epting, inker Rick Magyar, colorist Frank D’Armata, and letterer Joe Caramagna.
6. Avengers #4 (1964)
Jack Kirby and Stan Lee introduced the Avengers as the mightiest heroes of the Marvel Universe at the time. But the team didn’t come together until they brought back a hero from before Marvel Comics existed. In Avengers #4, the team discovers the frozen body of Captain America, a character that Kirby co-created with writer Joe Simon. Inked by George Roussos, colored by Stan Goldberg, and lettered by Artie Simek, the story both renders inapplicable the lackluster Captain America stories from 1950s and established Steve Rogers as a “man out of time,” a quality that continues into his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
7. Avengers #57 – 58 (1968)
While the Avengers began as a gathering of Marvel’s most popular heroes, it soon became a home for interesting oddballs, a term that best describes the synthezoid Vision. In an attempt to impress his father/inventor Ant-Man, Ultron creates his own robot entity, the Vision. Avengers #57-58, by writer Roy Thomas, penciler John Buscema, and inker George Klein, as well as letterer Sam Rosen, make the Vision more than just a potential enemy turned ally. Instead, they borrow from a rich history of stories about androids developing emotions to make the Vision one of the most complex characters in Avengers history.
8. Avengers #270-277 (1985 – 1986)
Compared to the heights of the 1970s and late 90s, Avengers comics experienced a dip in quality toward the end of the 80s. However, the book experienced one last hurrah in the form of the “Under Siege” storyline, written by Roger Stern, penciled by John Buscema, inked by Tom Palmer, colored by Julianna Ferriter and Christie Scheele, and lettered by Jim Novak.
In “Under Siege,” Baron Zemo launches a plot to take down the Avengers one by one, using the Masters of Evil to divide and conquer. Of course, the team succeeds in the end, but not without significant losses, leading to a fall from glory for a while.
9. New Avengers #1-6 (2004 – 2005)
Coming off of the defining run by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez (with a solid, but brief run by Geoff Johns and a mediocre run by Chuck Austen in between), new writer Brian Michael Bendis needed a big idea to make the Avengers exciting again.
That idea, which he executed with penciler David Finch and inker Danny Miki in New Avengers #1, involved going back to the very first idea behind the Avengers. For the first time since 1963, the Avengers line-up included the publisher’s most popular characters, including Spider-Man and Wolverine, alongside surprising additions such as Luke Cage and Spider-Woman. Colored by Frank D’Armata and lettered by Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne, the first six issues of New Avengers establish the new status quo for the Avengers with a big supervillain brawl and lots of clever quips.
10. JLA/Avengers (2003 – 2004)
Although it came a few years after they left Avengers, the crossover JLA/Avengers feels like the proper swan song for Kurt Busiek and George Pérez. The once-in-a-lifetime story involves a clash between godlike characters from the Marvel and DC Universes, which allows the two flagship teams to interact. Busiek brings his encyclopedic knowledge of both universes and Pérez, who gets an assist from colorist Tom Smith, stages clean and complex pages. The story shows off the creative duo’s fundamental understanding of the Avengers and establishes the team’s status alongside its forerunners, the Justice League of America.
11. Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 (1974)
The Avengers sprung from Jack Kirby, the undisputed most creative man in comics, and ambitious writers such as Roy Thomas followed Kirby’s run with Stan Lee. However, it took Steve Englehart to push Avengers comics into the stratosphere.
No story captures Englehart’s trippy approach like the Celestial Madonna Saga, which revolves around recent team addition Mantis. When Mantis regains her true memories, she discovers that she is the Celestial Madonna, a figure who will give birth to the next stage in evolution. That revelation brings the Avengers into conflict with Kang the Conquerer and a race of sentient plants called the Cotati, among others. Penciler Buscema, inker Joe Stanton, colorist Bill Mantlo, and letterer Joe Rosen do their best to keep the story clear, but Englehart has no interest in making the story easy to follow.
12. Avengers Forever (1998 – 1999)
Although most of Kurt Busiek’s work on Avengers comics featured big stories, Avengers Forever feels like an update on the Steve Englehart approach. The book focuses on a rag-tag group of Avengers assembled from various points in the book’s history, including a distraught Captain America and a Yellowjacket experiencing a mental break, to help the villain Immortus stop his younger self, Kang.
Not content to tell a twisty story with two feuding time-travelers, Busiek uses the event to retcon various parts of Avengers history. However, Busiek gets help from a creative team that includes penciler Carlos Pacheco, inker Jesús Merino, colorist Steve Oliff, and letterers Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne.
13. Avengers #16 (1965)
If Avengers #4 gave the Avengers a new personality when Captain America came on as leader, Avengers #16 gave the team a complete makeover. By the start of the issue, all of the members from Avengers #1 have resigned, leaving Cap to put together a new group in his image. He chooses a trio of former villains in the archer Hawkeye and the mutant terrorists Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.
Dubbed “Cap’s Kooky Quartet,” the new Avengers soon prove their worth in a series of stories by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Furthermore, they make the team a safe home for the mightiest heroes willing to serve, no matter how checkered their pasts.
14. Young Avengers #1-6 (2005)
Owing to Stan Lee’s aversion to teen sidekicks, Marvel has never had its version of DC’s Teen Titans. That changed in 2005, with the introduction of the Young Avengers. The team begins as an adolescent version of the Avengers, led by the mysterious Iron Lad and featuring the star-spangled Patriot, the hammer-wielding Asgardian, and the muscular Hulkling. However, when Iron Lad reveals himself as a teen version of Kang, forming a team to stop his older self, the Young Avengers soon develop their own identity, continuing the mission of their forebears while meeting the challenges of a new generation. That new undertaking begins in 2005’s Young Avengers #1, written by Allan Heinberg, penciled by Jim Cheung, inked by John Dell, colored by Justin Posner, and lettered by Cory Petit.
15. West Coast Avengers #42-57 (1988 – 1989)
Before the Young Avengers, the first Avengers spin-off established a chapter of the team in California, called the West Coast Avengers. The separation from the main team gave writer and artist John Byrne room to pursue his interests, and while those interests too often involved Scarlet Witch going mad, they also led to the compelling VisionQuest storyline.
When the West Coast Avengers discover that their fallen colleague Vision still lives, Scarlet Witch leads a search that brings them face-to-face with their worst nightmare. Byrne gathers a solid supporting creative team to help tell his story, including inker Mike Machlan, colorist Paul Becton, and letterer Bill Oakley.
16. Uncanny Avengers #1-5 (2012 – 2013)
Few fans have much love for the Avengers vs. X-Men event, a trumped-up story in which the Avengers and the X-Men abandoned all camaraderie and common sense to beat up on each other for several issues. However, the story did lead to an interesting concept with the Unity Squad, the main characters of Uncanny Avengers.
Co-lead by Havok and the Wasp, the Unity Squad includes members of both teams, in an attempt to quell anti-Mutant sentiment. However, that goal meets immediate resistance in the form of the book’s first big bad, the fascist Red Skull, who uses psychic powers stolen from Professor X to increase human bigotry. Those big ideas come to life in Uncanny Avengers #1-5, written by Rick Remender, drawn by John Cassady and Oliver Coipel, inked by Cassady and Mark Morales, colored by Laura Martin and Larry Molinar, and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos.
17. Avengers #57 – 62 (2022)
Not everyone loved the ideas that writer Jason Aaron brought to Avengers comics. His five-year run saw striking decisions, such as moving the team’s base to the body of a frozen Celestial (dubbed “Avengers Mountain”), putting outsiders such as Blade and Man-Thing on the team, and multiple stories involving super-ape Congo Bill. However, no one can deny the appeal of his final arc, drawn by Javier Garrón, colored by David Curiel, and lettered by Cory Petit. To stop the vast scheme by the demonic Mephisto, the Avengers gather variants of themselves from across time and space, creating an exciting genealogy of Avengers throughout history.
18. Avengers #170-177, (1977 – 1978)
Before they were the wise-cracking stars of James Gunn’s MCU movies, the Guardians of the Galaxy were the Avengers of the 31st century, a team of freedom fighters battling the oppressive Badoon. The Guardians came to the 20th century in pursuit of the cyborg Korvac, who wants to change the future by preventing the birth of the man who will become Vance Astro.
Despite its grandiloquent title, the Korvac Saga doesn’t quite reach the heights of other Avengers epics from the 1970s. However, writers Jim Shooter and Roger Stern keep things moving at an exciting clip, thanks to strong art from penciler Pérez, inker Pablo Marcos, colorist Phil Rache, and letterer Joe Rosen.
19. Avengers #1-6 (2023)
After the large-scale approach that Jason Aaron took to the Avengers, new writer Jed MacKay gets down to basics for his Avengers comics run with artist Carlos Villa. Under the leadership of Captain Marvel Carol Danvers, the Avengers consists of heavy hitters, including Black Panther, Captain America Sam Wilson, the Vision, and Thor.
Taking a cue from Grant Morrison’s work on the Justice League at DC Comics, MacKay emphasizes the iconography of the team, accentuated by the high-concept villains they face. MacKay and Villa’s first six-issue arc offers a bold statement of intent, thanks in part to the colors by Federico Blee and letterer Cory Petit.
20. All-New, All-Different Avengers #1-6 (2016)
In the mid-2010s, Marvel Comics attempted to build on the popularity of the MCU by giving their universe a face-lift during the “All-New, All-Different” campaign. As Marvel’s flagship book, Avengers had to lead the charge for Marvel’s reinvention, under the guidance of writing great Mark Waid and veteran artist Adam Kubert.
Waid captures the new face of the Marvel Universe by teaming mainstays Vision and Iron Man with newcomers Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Jane Foster Thor, and Nova Sam Alexander. While some might fear the heavy hand of editorial in that line-up, Waid’s breezy dialogue keeps things feeling organic, along with Kuburt’s storytelling chops, Sonia Oback’s striking colors, and Cory Petit’s clear letters.
21. Avengers #115-118, Defenders Vol. 1 #8-11 (1973)
In the early 1970s, Marvel had two strong teams with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, and wanted to boost a third, a hodgepodge of a team called the Defenders. To help build interest in the latter team, Steve Englehart wrote the Avengers/Defenders War, drawn by William Robert Brown and Sal Buscema. The crossover event doesn’t have the most dramatic stakes in the world, despite Englehart’s vast imagination. However, it does allow for some fun battles, including Avengers Thor and Captain America battling Defenders Hulk and Namor, and a team-up between Loki and Dormamu.
22. Dark Avengers #1-6 (2009)
The Marvel Civil War storyline led to fractured Avengers teams and heroes fighting heroes. However, it also built to the interesting Dark Reign crossover, in which the villain Norman Osborn took control of SHIELD and put the heroes on the run.
In the series Dark Avengers, Osborn used his position to take the identity of Iron Patriot and remake the Avengers with other villains, including the assassin Bullseye becoming Hawkeye and the killer Daken taking the identity of Wolverine. Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato, working with colorist Rain Beredo and letterer Cory Petit, have fun with their dark reflection of the Avengers, creating a tale that proves the virtues of the real Avengers.
23. The Ultimates #1-12 (2002 – 2004)
When Marvel launched the Ultimate Universe in 2000, the company wanted to give their characters a fresh update, bringing them up to (then) modern-day and erasing decades of continuity. The most radical reinvention came with The Ultimates, the universe’s take on the Avengers. Writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch created a wide-screen version of the team, imagining them as extensions of the U.S. military formed to take on the largest aggressors. Today, Millar’s edgy writing and cynical characters feel dated, but Hitch’s breath-taking art still impresses, as do Andrew Currie’s inks, Paul Mounts’s subdued colors, and Chris Eliopoulos’s distinctive letters.
24. Avengers #391 – 395 (1995)
As dated as The Ultimates is, that series has nothing on The Crossing, the epitome of excessive 90s comics. Fans might forgive the out-of-nowhere twist that Tony Stark has been Kang’s sleeper agent for decades, and they can even forgive the teenage Tony who comes from the past to stop his corrupted older self.
However, they have a much harder time accepting the radical changes to the Avengers looks, including turning Wasp into an actual bug and giving Thor a heavy-metal half-shirt. Writers Bob Harras and Terry Kavanaugh lean into every trope of the time, and artist Deodato has not yet matured into his more recognizable style, despite strong inking and colors from Tom Palmer and clear lettering from Bill Oakley. No one will call The Crossing their favorite Avengers storyline, but it does provide a perfect time capsule of the era before Busiek and Pérez brought the book back to greatness.
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