The Avengers are commonly known as "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" which references both the team's accomplishments in saving the world time and time again as well as the powerful members who usually make up the roster of Marvel's premiere superhero team.
However, there have been a few situations over the years where The Avengers didn't live up to their own hype and were severely underpowered or divided, resulting in often devastating events and capitalizing villains, which we'll take a closer look at today as we explore some of the weakened moments of The Avengers.
10 The Masters Of Evil Invaded Avengers Mansion During Under Siege
Baron Zemo assembled the largest and most powerful roster of the Masters of Evil during the "Under Siege" storyline, who began to wear down and distract the avengers individually before they joined forces to storm Avengers Mansion.
Hercules was distracted prior to the assault and was severely beaten by the Masters along with the Avengers faithful butler Jarvis, followed by the villains systematically taking out the Avengers to take control of the Mansion. Zemo eventually lost control of his team and the Avengers were able to evict the Masters of Evil, but they were almost picked off one by one and defeated.
9 Operation: Galactic Storm Featured A Rookie Thor And A Disagreement Among Leaders
The Avengers found themselves across the galaxy during the Operation: Galactic Storm crossover event that saw the various teams of the Avengers divided both across the galaxy and amongst themselves. They were also unknowingly joined by the rookie Eric Masterson as Thor, which contributed to the team's ineffectiveness that led to the destruction of the Kree homeworld.
After the tense and hard-fought war between the Kree and the Shi'ar, Iron Man and Captain America disagreed over the best way to deal with the Supreme Intelligence. Iron Man broke ranks and took his own team of Avengers to kill the Supreme Intelligence for his actions to earn a moral defeat as well.
8 A B-List Avengers Roster Was Taken Out By B-List Villains During The Gatherer Saga
There was a time during the 90s when The Avengers wasn't quite the gathering of popular heroes fans love today, as the big heroes like Captain America and Iron Man were mostly occupied in their solo titles. The Avengers consisted of Black Knight, Sersi, Crystal, Hercules, Vision, and Black Widow which left the team greatly underpowered.
A multiversal team known as the Gatherers chose that time to attack The Avengers. Led by a future version of Black Knight named Proctor, the Gatherers wouldn't have been much of a problem for the modern roster of The Avengers, but Black Knight's team struggled with the forgotten villains until the team's heavy hitters returned for a final battle.
7 Earth Was Conquered By Kang When The Avengers Were Separated
The Avengers faced off with the time-traveling threat known as Kang The Conqueror and his armies from across the timeline many times over the years, though he experienced one of his greatest victories during "The Kang Dynasty" when he successfully took over the world's governments after the complete destruction of Washinton, D.C.
Kang The Conqueror managed to successfully separate the Avengers by stranding half the team in space, which resulted in the surrender of the weakened Earth-bound team before the stranded Avengers were able to mount an offensive against Kang and his allied forces.
6 A Deadly Virus And A Worsening Scarlet Witch Sidelined Most Of The Avengers During Red Zone
After a bio-weapon is released at Mount Rushmore that leads to a military-enforced quarantine during the "Red Zone" storyline, the Avengers were called in to help with evacuation efforts of the expanding quarantined zone while also investigating the corrupt political origins of the outbreak.
While the virus and investigation took their toll on some members of the Avengers, it was really the subconscious manipulations of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, whose worsening condition caused her teammates' powers to rage uncontrollably while they were exposed inside the Red Zone in a dark prelude to the "Avengers: Disassembled" event.
5 The Leaders Of The Avengers Were On Opposite Sides During Civil War
A devastating explosion during a televised superhero battle led to a Superhuman Registration Act that forced heroes to register with the government or quit, which caused a division between the leaders of the Avengers, Captain America, and Iron Man, during the Civil War event.
Captain America rallied a team of Secret Avengers behind him in opposition to the SRA while Iron Man fell to extreme measure with his own team of registered heroes and villains like the Thunderbolts, who ultimately helped turn the tide against Captain America's forces to end the Civil War and leave the Avengers fractured for years.
4 Norman Osborn Capitalized On The Divided Avengers During Dark Reign
Multiple teams of Avengers formed in the wake of Civil War who were further divided by the Secret Invasion of the Skrulls, which left them in an even weaker state when Norman Osborn was given control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and formed his own powerful team of Dark Avengers that usurped the original heroic identities to further demoralize Marvel's heroes.
That left the New Avengers on the run while they dealt with the battle over the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme, which put them at a serious disadvantage at a time when the Avengers were already at their lowest and dealing with the loss of characters like Captain America and Thor from previous events.
3 Original Sin Brought The Avengers To A New Low With Revealed Secrets
The murder of the Watcher and the theft of his eye unleashed a storm of damaging secrets on the Marvel Universe that drove the heroes of the Avengers apart and pitted old friends against each other during the Original Sin event. While the majority of The Avengers were distracted, a team of mismatched heroes investigated the murder and discovered that Nick Fury was responsible.
The Avengers confronted their old ally which led to more revelations that further impacted the team, including Thor's loss of Mjolnir when he deemed himself unworthy, proving the strength secrets have on a team like The Avengers and how destabilizing they can be when used offensively.
2 Time Runs Out Saw The Avengers Turn On The Illuminati Prior To Secret Wars
A number of comic events and storylines have proven that The Avengers are at their weakest when they are divided and working against each other, which saw the long-standing rivalry between Iron Man and Captain America reach a final escalation during the "Time Runs Out" storyline, which saw Iron Man and the Illuminati opposed by Steve Roger's Avengers.
While each of the team's rosters was at their most powerful, neither team was truly fighting with their hearts in the battle as they were opposing friends while also dealing with the threat of universal incursions that led to the reality-altering Secret Wars event.
1 Captain America Manipulated Weakened Avengers During Secret Empire
Following Captain America's surprising reveal as a Hydra agent that kicked off the Secret Empire event, he began to assemble a team of powerful heroes he could manipulate that included characters like the still unworthy Thor, a magically-possessed Scarlet Witch, and a reprogrammed Vision who sided with Hydra against a team of Avengers that formed a resistance.
The Avengers were further weakened and demoralized following the murders of characters like Rick Jones and Black Widow and the loss of the city of Las Vegas, though the resistance was ultimately able to overcome when the real Captain America returned.
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