The Avengers have had their ups and downs over the years but they've always been one of the greatest teams in comics. They've survived some of the most brutal battles in Marvel history and are always on the forefront of things, doing their best to save the Earth and its inhabitants from evil. For sixty years, the Avengers have been entertaining fans, telling some seminal stories that every fan should read.
However, like any comic, some stories get overrated by fans and critics alike. While there's nothing wrong with these stories, they have gotten overhyped in recent years and this has caused other pieces to be lost in the shuffle.
10 Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War Is Important But It's Definitely Of Its Time
Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War, by writer Roy Thomas and artists Neal Adams, Sal Buscema, and John Buscmea, is an Avengers classic that is always on lists of must-read Avengers' stories. It's a good story and it's an important one, as it sent the Avengers into space for one of the first times, getting them involved in cosmic things that had usually been the Fantastic Four's purview.
However, the problem is that it's very much written like a book from its time and that can be hard to read for a modern fan. It's a bit long and the way it's written makes it feel even more drawn out. The art is excellent but it can be a bit hard to get through at times.
9 Secret Wars (2015) Had A Chance To Make Some Big Changes But Reverted Just About Everything To The Status Quo
Secret Wars (2015), by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic, represented the culmination of Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers runs. After the Incursions pretty much destroy reality, Doctor Doom rebuilds it all in his own image but a group of Marvel's greatest heroes band together to try and put things back to normal.
This story felt like it could be Marvel's Crisis On Infinite Earths but in the end, it didn't change much at all. It took the Fantastic Four off the table and introduced Miles Morales and Old Man Logan to the regular Marvel Universe but it mostly just reset the status quo. It's fun but the lack of impact makes it inessential for new readers.
8 The Ultimates: Super-Human Shows Its Age
The Ultimate Universe was Marvel's grand experiment at the beginning of the 21st century, basically rebooting its universe for stories with classic characters that weren't bogged down by decades of continuity. The Ultimates: Super-Human, by writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch, was the Ultimate Universe's Avengers and while the book was celebrated when it first debuted, it doesn't hold up nearly as well.
It's a good story but too much of its humor is of its time and it often feels edgy just for the sake of it. It's a good read but it isn't the amazing book it was once considered to be.
7 Avengers #4 (1963) Brought Cap Back To Marvel But It's Hard To Read Nowadays
Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby are the main architects of Silver Age Marvel but sometimes, some of their work can be hard for modern audiences to get through. That's Avengers #4 in a nutshell. Serving as the book that brought Captain America back to Marvel, it's an important book with amazing Kirby pencils but the writing leaves something to be desired.
Lee's scripting style is very idiosyncratic and doesn't really work for modern readers. This is a good comic but like many books of its time, it doesn't hold up very well in comparison to contemporary comics.
6 Avengers: The Final Host Pitted The Avengers Versus The Celestials But It Felt Cliche
Avengers: The Final Host, by writer Jason Aaron and artists Ed McGuinness and Paco Medina, served as a new beginning for the team in 2018. Spinning out of Marvel: Legacy #1, it picked up on many of the plot threads Aaron laid down in that book, but there was a problem- none of those plot threads were that captivating.
Pitting an all-star team of some of the most powerful Avengers ever against the Celestials should have been a blockbuster but this story was just kind of bizarre and cliche. It had its moments but it never felt very important, a massive problem in a story with stakes this large.
5 Avengers Vs. X-Men Had Too Many Cooks In Kitchen And It Showed
Avengers Vs. X-Men, by writers Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, and Jason Aaron and artists John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert, was a classic example of an event book written by committee- literally. Featuring the X-Men and Avengers battling it out over the Phoenix Force, this isn't a bad book but it's not as good as it could have been.
Having five writers work on a twelve-issue series was a strange choice and while those five writers are all great on their own, the book felt too tonally dissonant. There's a lot to love about it but it feels like it could have been better.
4 New Avengers: Breakout Introduced A New Era For Marvel And The Avengers But Fell Prey To Bendis's Tropes
New Avengers: Breakout, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch, was the beginning of Bendis's tenure as Marvel's top writer. Seeing a new team of Avengers rise to stop a breakout on the Raft and find out who was behind it, it was a beloved story in its day but just isn't as good as people thought it was.
While it introduced the powerful New Avengers roster to readers and served to start plots Bendis would play with for the next few years, it also suffered from his tropes. It could be kind of meandering, the action wasn't great, and there was a bit too much humor. The art is great and the story works, it just suffers a bit because of the execution.
3 Secret Invasion Was Too Drawn Out
One of the plot threads set up by Breakout would come to fruition in Secret Invasion, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Leinil Yu. The Skrulls spring their long prepared invasion of the Earth, just as the Avengers are fighting amongst themselves because of Civil War. This story had a lot of potential but it suffered from a decentralized storytelling style.
The problem with this book is the lull that occurs in the middle of the story. The Avengers are trapped so the Skrulls can take over the outside world and this grinds the whole story to a halt. There are still some fun moments but the middle kills the story's momentum.
2 Civil War Suffers From Narrative Convenience
Civil War, by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven, is one of Marvel's most important stories of the last twenty years but it has its problems. Seeing Captain America and Iron Man split the Marvel Universe because of their disagreement on the Superhero Registration Act, it's an action-packed story that depends on the characters acting in ways they never would.
There's a lot to like about Civil War but that doesn't change that it took a lot of liberties with a lot of characters which resulted in things being stretched for narrative convenience. It led to some great stuff but the comic itself is overrated.
1 House Of M Is Important But It Is Too Slow
House Of M, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Olivier Coipel, changed the Marvel Universe for almost a decade and had drastic consequences but it does have its flaws. The story had its up and downs but the downs really hurt this tale of the Avengers and X-Men trapped in a world remade by the Scarlet Witch.
Like other similarly written events, it was unfortunately drawn out with not much happening in most issues until the very end. It's a hugely important story but it meanders way too much to get to the important stuff.
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