The Avengers are considered Earth’s Mightiest Heroes both within and outside Marvel Comics continuity. Part of that reputations stems from their long history of teamwork against threats that no single superhero could withstand. But while the Avengers are a formidable team, they’re a terrible friend group – and it’s holding them back.

Over the course of their history, the Avengers have welcomed countless heroes to their ranks. But with such strong personalities come some toxic dynamics. And on more than one occasion, the Avengers’ dysfunction has led to tragedy and chaos for its heroes and the world they seek to protect.

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One of the most egregious examples of the Avengers’ negligence occurs in Avengers #200 by Bob Layton, Jim Shooter, and more after Carol Danvers, the future Captain Marvel, is assaulted and impregnated by a being called Marcus who is essentially her own son. While she claims to love this Marcus, it’s made clear that he uses his technology to influence her decision to return to his home dimension with him, and her teammates do nothing but wish her well. The “Avengers Disassembled” storyline by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch spins almost directly out of the team’s missteps as a support structure. Not only do they hide the existence and loss of the Scarlet Witch’s children from her, but their attempts to cover it up lead her into a nervous breakdown that costs the lives of multiple teammates. This leads directly into the events of House of M by Bendis and Olivier Coipel where the heroes of the Marvel Universe are initially ready to put Wanda down as if she were a rabid dog instead of a valued teammate.

Captain America clashes with Iron Man in the Marvel Comics Civil War event.

Civil War by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven features one of the team’s most dramatic breakups as it finds the Avengers split down the middle between Captain America and Iron Man: the two figureheads who frequently split the team asunder. Their own personal war demolishes not just the Avengers “family” but the Marvel Universe as a whole. Such a pattern repeats itself years later with Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez’s Civil War II pitting Captain Marvel against Iron Man. Additionally, the lead-up to Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić’s Secret Wars event includes a long-running conflict between Captain America and Iron Man that boils over in the pages of Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers featuring art by Leinil Francis Yu and Steve Epting respectively.

The Avengers are far from the only dysfunctional group of heroes in comics, but for some reason, they’re the most in denial about the reality of their dynamic, leading them to disassemble time and time again. On the other hand, a group like the widely beloved “non-team,” the Defenders, are specifically aware of their complicated dynamics and still manage to save the world without traumatizing each other. Classic Defenders like Doctor Strange, the Hulk, and Namor have all been Avengers at one point or another, but their more emotionally honest and upfront approach as a “non-team” ultimately serves them far better – and it’s probably why they tend to last longer as Defenders.

Doctor Strange and the Defenders from Marvel Comics

When it comes to Earth’s other heroes, the Avengers still have them beat in terms of dysfunction. As the First Family of Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four are widely considered their world’s greatest heroes, and their success as a team is owed to the close and supportive family dynamic they’ve built. Meanwhile, with a group as diverse and dynamic as the X-Men, the fact that they function more healthily than the Avengers stems from that same family dynamic shared by the Fantastic Four. Although the Avengers assemble in their mission to save the world, the X-Men and their fellow mutants are inexorably linked by their shared experience as persecuted species: a far more personal motivation than simply saving the world and a contrast that gets explored in Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender, Daniel Acuña and more.

The Avengers are Marvel’s premier superhero team, but that doesn’t mean they’re its premier friend group. Although they’ve saved the world countless times, on more than one occasion they’ve failed to save the people who matter the most to them simply because they lacked the self-awareness to do so. When it comes down to it, Marvel Comics' Avengers either need to stop pretending they’re friends or start living up to the idyllic dynamic they like to portray.

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