The Avengers are Earth's Mightiest Heroes and one of the most reliable defenders in the Marvel Universe. Starting with Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, the team has expanded and changed several times over the years, including such luminaries as Captain America, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel.
However, the Avengers have made their fair share of mistakes. They've been unable to stop certain threats and they've created some world-threatening crises even as they've stopped others. The Avengers have been known to create their own problems, and they've not always been up to the task of stopping them.
10 Allowing Marcus Immortus To Take Carol Danvers To An Alternate Dimension
When Carol Danvers, then known as Ms. Marvel, suddenly became pregnant, the Avengers did try to investigate. The pregnancy and gestation were swift, and Carol suddenly gave birth to a baby boy. This baby boy swiftly grew into a man calling himself Marcus and claiming to be the son of Immortus, an alias of Kang the Conqueror. He said he needed to cause this pregnancy to allow himself access to our dimension from Limbo, and he claimed to be in love with Carol--who seemed to reciprocate. The two then left our dimension for Limbo.
Sometime later, Carol Danvers was found floating in the Hudson. She was saved by Spider-Woman and brought to the Avengers. She had lost her powers, and she was furious at the Avengers for allowing Marcus to take her. She couldn't believe they didn't see how wrong it all was and how obvious it was that she was being manipulated. Carol then cut ties with the Avengers for a long time, becoming a frequent ally of the X-Men.
9 Neglecting The Mutant Plight Then Waging War On The X-Men Over The Phoenix
The Avengers have tried to present themselves as friends to mutant-kind over the years and have even recruited mutants such as Beast, Justice, Firestar, Wolverine, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch (the mutant status of those last two has come into question in recent years). However, the Avengers have rarely gone to bat for mutants when the government unleashed the Sentinels to hunt them, passed anti-mutant laws, and allowed the Legacy Virus to ravage their population.
When mutants were on the brink of extinction, and a desperate Cyclops believed the coming Phoenix Force was going to be what the X-Men needed to save mutant-kind. The Avengers wanted to come up with a way to repel the Phoenix given its destructive history (having already destroyed another planet on its way to Earth). Captain America went to confront Cyclops, but Scott proved immovable and called Steve's bluff, knowing that Steve was willing to go to war with the X-Men over this. Sure enough, Steve revealed a S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier with every Avenger on the roster hidden above the X-Men's headquarters.
8 Leaving Earth Near-Defenseless To Fight The Builders' War
The Builders were a progenitor race in the Marvel Universe and they decided to undo their ancient work by going across the cosmos and wiping out all sentient society. The Avengers were warned of their coming war and left Earth to fight in a coalition of alien races to stop the Builders' apocalyptic war.
While this was necessary to prevent the end of all things, it did leave the Earth without Avengers. Thanos took this opportunity to invade Earth in his made search for his son, Thane. Thanos devastated the planet, almost wiping out New York, Wakanda, and Atlantis. He also attacked Attilan, which pushed Black Bolt to detonate his Terrigen Bomb to awaken all the dormant Inhuman hybrids across the world. The Terrigen Cloud that was released, and, little did Black Bolt know, would sterilize mutants and push them even closer to extinction. The Avengers returned in the aftermath of the Builders' War and tried to stop Thanos themselves but proved unable to. In the end, it took the living-death powers of Thanos' son, Thane, to truly stop Thanos.
7 Working Frequently With Nick Fury And S.H.I.E.L.D Despite Their Secrecy
The Avengers have worked with Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the United States government countless times over the years. This has made the Avengers party to some very questionable decisions, but the most obscene example comes from Nick Fury's Secret War in Latveria. Fury believed Lucia Von Bardas, then the Prime Minister of Latveria in the absence of Doctor Doom, was creating upgraded weapons for American supervillains and selling them to them with the help of the Tinkerer.
Fury put together a covert team of Avengers including Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Wolverine, and took them to Latveria to stop Von Bardas. The resulting chaos almost killed Von Bardas and created some significant destruction in Latveria. Von Bardas, in retaliation, openly attacked New York City, causing massive destruction and killing many innocents. This was one of the events that ultimately led the U.S. to pass the Super Hero Registration Act.
6 Neglecting And Frequently Antagonizing The Incredible Hulk
Despite the Hulk being a founding member of the Avengers, the team has rarely trusted the Jade Giant. They've fought him and alienated him several times over the years. This culminated in the Illuminati, many members of which were current and former Avengers, launching the Hulk to Sakaar to deal with the problem for good.
Hulk would later return and seek retribution on the Illuminati. Hulk later was assassinated by Hawkeye after the Avengers received a vision from the precognitive Inhuman Ulysses of the Hulk wiping out the Avengers. Now that the Hulk has returned once again and waging a crusade against the destructive forces that control human society, the Avengers are still standing opposed to the Hulk and fighting him.
5 Failing To Stop Evil Captain America And Hydra From Taking Over The Country
This wasn't a conscious choice on the part of the Avengers, but it is still something that they should have tried to stop before it got too far--and failed to prevent when it came to a head. Red Skull and the sentient Cosmic Cube known as Kobik replaced Steve Rogers with one from a parallel timeline who was raised to be a Hydra sleeper agent. He killed Jack Flagg and ultimately used the Cosmic Cube and the forces of Hydra to overthrow the U.S government.
The Avengers did try to stop him, but they were easily routed by evil Captain America. When they were needed more than ever, the Avengers were practically useless in stopping Hydra Cap. Scarlet Witch was possessed by the Chaos God Chthon, and the Vision was overridden by Arnim Zola--both becoming part of evil Cap's Hydra Avengers. The Odinson even joined of his own volition after evil Steve used the Cosmic Cube to strand Jane Foster in another dimension.
4 Going To War Over The Precognitive Powers Of The Inhuman Ulysses
That aforementioned Inhuman named Ulysses prompted the Second Superhuman Civil War. Captain Marvel wanted to use his powers to stop villains before they attacked, and Iron Man thought this was going too far and was further against it after the deaths of War Machine and the Hulk.
There were arguably infinite middle-grounds that could have been talked out with compromise (Ulysses' powers did allow the Avengers to preemptively stop invasions from Thanos and a rogue Celestial). However, the superheroes instead took sides and fought it out in a destructive war that ended with Carol beating Tony Stark into a coma.
3 Going To War Over The Super Hero Registration Act
Of course, the First Superhuman Civil War was a bit more understandable. The U.S. government passed the Super Hero Registration Act, which aimed to force all superheroes into becoming government agents and revealing their secret identities to the public. Steve Rogers was against this, but Tony Stark thought it best to go along with the law.
This led to a massively destructive conflict which ended in a lot of property damage, the endangerment of innocent lives, and the deaths of Goliath (Bill Foster) and Captain America himself.
2 Ignoring The Scarlet Witch's Mental Health Then Considering Euthanizing Her
Despite her growing reality-warping powers and the creation and death of Tommy and Billy Maximoff (later reincarnated as the Young Avengers Speed and Wiccan), the Avengers didn't really pay much mind to the Scarlet Witch's powers and deteriorating mental health. This ultimately left them blindsided when she killed three Avengers and broke apart the team in the Avengers Disassembled event.
Unsure of what to do with her, the Avengers called together Quicksilver and Magneto (who may be her father) and discussed what to do with Wanda. Ms. Marvel mentioned that they might just need to kill her. This caused Quicksilver to panic and prompt his sister into remaking reality once again, this time creating a world where mutants ruled under Magneto in what was called House of M. After this was shattered, Scarlet Witch had another breakdown which led to "M-Day," which almost wiped out the mutant population.
1 Fighting Each Other Instead Of Figuring Out A Solution To The Incursion Crisis
Captain America joined up with the Illuminati as "oversight" when the team was first exposed to the rest of the Avengers. However, when the Incursion crisis began, the Illuminati began considering the need to destroy other Earth's to keep them from colliding with their own. Cap wouldn't even consider this, so Iron Man had Doctor Strange wipe Cap's mind and eject him from the group.
Cap's memories were later restored, and he used the full force of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. to hunt the Illuminati across the globe--essentially ignoring the oncoming apocalypse that would be caused by the Final Incursion. This meant that no one (except Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, and the Molecule Man hidden away on another Earth) had any idea on how to stop the Final Incursion except to create a lifeboat for a select few heroes and send it out into the void. While the Final Incursion transpired, Captain America and Iron Man beat one another to death as the world ended around them.
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