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The MCU would have audiences believe that The Avengers are Marvel’s greatest team, hands down. And while the comics may agree that the Avengers are among the best teams, easily standing toe-to-toe with the X-Men and Fantastic Four in terms of power, there’s one dark secret even fans hate to admit.
They may be famous, but the truth is The Avengers are also Marvel’s most overhyped strike team., and also top contenders for the most boring super-team that Marvel has to offer. Even beyond the in-universe problems The Avengers cause with their fellow heroes, the quality of their comic stories often pale in comparison to other super-teams in the Marvel Universe.
The Avengers Are Mighty, But That Doesn’t Mean Exciting
Are the Avengers Overrated After So Many Decades of Adventures?
Marvel Comics had every reason to present its readers with a highly-hyped, ‘event’ team-up like The Avengers when they first made their debut. At the time, seeing Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, and The Wasp felt was essentially the comic equivalent of watching Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, and Steph Curry unite on the same team. The team’s adventures didn’t disappoint, but that was 62 years ago at this point.
In 2025, it’s hard to ignore that the excitement surrounding The Avengers is starting to dwindle for readers. Without blockbuster MCU films offering incentives to send new or existing readers into their local comic shops, Marvel comic sales are struggling to keep up with DC, and that’s a problem felt with the publisher’s Avengers titles as much as any other. The team’s high profile might suggest they would be one of Marvel’s hottest properties, but they are no more successful in connecting with consumers than their individual members.
If The Strength of The Avengers is Their ‘Team’ Identity, Marvel Has A Problem
Few Superhero Teams Have Ever Found It Harder To Co-Exist Than The Avengers
One major reason why it’s hard for either readers or in-universe characters to take The Avengers seriously is that they always seem at odds with each other. Heroes fighting heroes may be a common trope in comic book culture, and with the Avengers being Marvel’s flagship team in the modern age, it makes sense as to why they would be deployed for such controversial in-fighting so often. The problem is that, in-universe, a hero team this dysfunctional… isn’t a good look from a citizen’s perspective.
With a consistent tendency to end up in the news because they can’t agree, can’t come to an agreement, or co-exist long enough to fight street-level crime anymore, one must assume Marvel citzens question if The Avengers are truly the mightiest set of soldiers the world has to offer, Or, more importantly, if the average person is in safe hands with them overseeing their security. There have been multiple Civil Wars and numerous events under the Marvel banner in which superheroes can’t stop fighting each other, and more often than not, those heroes are card-carrying members of The Avengers.
On the opposite end of the in-universe optics of seeing The Avengers fight each other so frequently, the readership optics are even worse. It may not necessarily be that The Avengers are boring characters as much as their storylines are, namely the ones centered around the team’s in-fighting. Again, there have been multiple Civil War events, among other events pitting hero against hero. Eventually, going back to the same well over and over again is going to wear thin, especially after it arguably peaked with the first Civil War.
In trying to retread back to that same well over and over again, storylines find some contrived means of bringing The Avengers into conflict with each other. Civil War II is a prime example, hence why the event was hated by fans. Most superhero conflicts can be resolved with simple conversations, but simple conversations obviously slow down the pace of an action tale. The alternative is for heroes to make out-of-character decisions and constantly crash out at each other for no reason, which often happens with these Avengers battles. Fans and characters in-universe are tired of it.
When Was the Last Time The Avengers Had a Storyline to Get Excited About
The Storylines are the Hindrance, Not the Avengers Themselves
The Avengers have had a rather eventful last couple of years since Captain Marvel became the team’s leader in recent memory. They gained a new headquarters that pulls double duty as a god-tier Avengers member, Impossible City; Storm joined their ranks as another member, and a betrayal from a possessed Blade kicked off 2024’s summer event known as the Blood Hunt. The problem is that outside of the niche audience of comic book readers, virtually nothing noteworthy has happened to The Avengers.
The biggest news to come out in the last few years was Storm joining The Avengers. Meanwhile, Blood Hunt was another means of forcing superhero conflict, this time by way of a vampire invasion. There was a time when a major comic event or even a moment was big enough to make national news or at least circulate outside the closed-knit circles of comic book culture. The death of Captain America, for example, during Civil War was big enough to garner attention outside comic readers. People who hadn’t picked up a comic book in years cared about this exciting moment.
Is Marvel Not Putting as Big of a Focus on The Avengers as They Could?
The Lack of Promotion Makes Fans Think The Avengers are Boring
One could say therein lies the problem, the storylines for The Avengers not being exciting enough to warrant much reaction. That being said, the creative teams behind the latest Avengers books are immensely talented. For example, Avengers Inc. was a must-read comic until it was unceremoniously cut short due to early comic sales. It was particularly eventful as it marked the return of Hank Pym from the dead in several years and a new version of Ultron. However, it feels like just as much of a blip in the aftermath as it was through lack of fanfare.
The abrupt and sudden cancellation of Avengers Inc. exposed the problems with Marvel’s business model, and perhaps that same business model is why The Avengers don’t feel as exciting as they used to be. Yes, there are issues internally with the storylines and recurring tropes that don’t serve The Avengers any longer, but even when the books nail it out of the park, they aren’t promoted to the extent for them to generate the buzz they deserve. Marvel not giving The Avengers their deserving spotlight is making people think they’re boring.
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