Marvel’s superhero teams boast some incredibly powerful lineups. There are the Fantastic Four led by the brilliant and bendable Reed Richards, the smartest man in the Marvel Universe. The X-Men unite numerous Omega-level mutants with god-like gifts and science-breaking abilities. And then there are the original Avengers, who actually have gods like Thor and Hercules in their roster.
However, there is one superhero team with a membership more powerful than any of the teams listed above. And while that kind of power might seem like a thing to honor and embrace, the truth is... it’s a team most superheroes would overlook – or laugh at.
Yes, as strange as it may seem, and while personal affection or adoration may cloud a comic fan's judgement, there is just no denying: Marvel’s most powerful superhero team is secretly The Great Lakes Avengers.
Who Are the Great Lakes Avengers?
Odds are, only the most devoted Marvel comic book fans will know who the Great Lakes Avengers are. Considering the GLA kept changing their name for a time (becoming the Great Lakes X-Men, the Great Lakes Champions, the Great Lakes Initiative, and The Lightning Rods), the confusion is understandable. Even so, the team has a remarkable origin.
Appearing first in West Coast Avengers #46, the Great Lakes Avengers are a group of mutants based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hoping to become their state’s greatest superhero team (not too difficult considering the lack of competition) the GLA stops robberies but are themselves stopped when the Avengers’ archer Hawkeye and Mockingbird call them out on their (unsanctioned) use of the Avengers name. Nevertheless, Hawkeye feels the team shows some promise and becomes their mentor, even taking them on some missions to assist the (official) Avengers. Unfortunately, the GLA soon falls by the wayside and end up spending most of their time sitting around their headquarters playing cards.
The GLA was revived years later by comic book writer Dan Slott who brought them back for the miniseries GLA Misassembled. In the course of the storyline, the team received some powerful new recruits while some of the original members learned they were more powerful than anyone gave them credit for. To see just how powerful, let’s take a close look at their most popular members.
Squirrel Girl
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (aka Doreen Green) joined the GLA in GLA Misassembled, which marked her official return to the Marvel Universe after her debut in Marvel Super-Heroes #8 fifteen years earlier. In the story, the GLA traveled to New York to recruit new members for their team – and were promptly turned down by every hero they asked (save for Living Lightning who thought “GLA” stood for the Gay-Lesbian Alliance). Fortunately, Squirrel Girl – who had been making a name for herself as the local hero of Central Park – jumped at the chance to join the team after saving GLA members Doorman and Flatman from being mugged.
While the media laughed at the GLA’s newest recruit, the team learned they had inadvertently enlisted the most powerful heroine in the entire Marvel Universe. Although Doreen’s sweet and humble demeanor make many people underestimate her, she regularly takes down powerful villains, including Doctor Doom, Fin Fang Foom, Terrax (a former Herald of Galactus), Galactus himself, and Thanos. Both the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D and evil group A.I.M. are aware of Squirrel Girl’s battle prowess – with A.I.M. code naming Squirrel Girl “The Slayer of All That Breathes.”
Although many of Squirrel Girl’s victories happen off-panel, it has been shown that she can best Wolverine (whom she had a past relationship with) in hand-to-hand combat. Her ability to creatively mobilize her squirrel army enables her to employ unexpected strategies against her opponents (as shown when she made hundreds of squirrels disable Doctor Doom’s ship by chewing through the wiring). Aside from being Marvel’s most dangerous fighter, then Squirrel Girl outclasses even master strategists like Captain America. There’s a reason she’s called “Unbeatable.”
Unfortunately, Squirrel Girl proved so hyper competent that the rest of the GLA spent all of their time playing cards while she went on their missions. Fearing she was holding them back, she quit the team and struck off on her own.
Mr. Immortal
The team’s leader Craig Hollis (aka Mr. Immortal) learned early in his life that he could not die. His power differs from characters like Wolverine or Deadpool – rather than slowly regenerate from mortal wounds, Mr. Immortal immediately reverts back to his young, healthy self no matter what poison, weapon, or unexpected mishap happens to (temporarily) kill him. Eventually, Craig learns that he is “Homo Supreme,” the next stage above “Homo Superior” mutants. This actually puts Mr. Immortal at a level above both gods and Omega-level mutants as his body has literally evolved past death.
Originally, Mr. Immortal found his power somewhat limiting (when he tried to stop a bank robbery solo, the robbers just shot him in the head and left before he could recover). With his team, however, Mr. Immortal regularly goes on impossible suicide missions (which he knows he will survive) giving the GLA an unexpected edge in the type of strategies they can employ.
Doorman
The character with the silliest name is arguably one of its scariest members. DeMarr Davis is a “Class-10 Teleporter” who can transport people anywhere they want to go – as long as it’s in the next room. Actually, Doorman is downplaying his abilities since his body functions as a portal to the Darkforce Dimension. This means people or objects that go through him enter a different dimension before exiting through his other side (usually on the other side of a wall). Doorman can use his mutant power to simulate intangibility powers like the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde or Avenger’s Vision, letting bullets or weapons pass harmlessly through him, rendering him invulnerable.
At the end of the GLA Misassembled miniseries, Doorman became even more powerful when he sacrificed himself to get Mr. Immortal through a deadly forcefield. Attracting the attention of the cosmic entity Oblivion, Doorman was resurrected as the Angel of Death, making him effectively immortal like Mr. Immortal. He can also fly impossibly fast now, letting him quickly collect the souls of the recently deceased. As a side benefit, Doorman can also see beings like Santa Claus who travel in the same other dimensional circles he does.
Big Bertha
The team’s matriarch Big Bertha (aka Ashley Crawford) is powerful for a different reason than one might expect. As a mutant with the power to reshape the fat on her body in any way she desires, Big Bertha can add “hundreds of pounds of super-bulk” to her frame, granting her Hulk-like strength, near invulnerability, and the ability to leap miles in a single bound. However, her most lucrative ability is her ability to restructure her body’s fat and give herself cover girl proportions.
Using her power in this way, Bertha is a supermodel in her civilian identity and can make vast amounts of money, ensuring that the GLA is one of the few super teams that will never go broke. (How Bertha gains and loses weight varies from story to story.)
Flatman
Deputy leader Flatman has the ability to… flatten his body and make it as stretchable and pliable as plastic. While this doesn’t seem like a particularly useful power, Flatman does gain an uncanny resemblance to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four when he uses his powers, allowing the team to get into laboratories and research facilities when people mistake him for the famous scientist. (He can also technically become invisible if he positions his body at just the right angle).
Still, readers shouldn’t be too quick to write off Flatman. All of the other GLA members found ways of using their strengths in creative and effective ways – so it’s probably only a matter of time before Flatman reveals a near-omnipotent side to his deceptively silly abilities and shows why he’s second-in-command of the most powerful superhero team in the Marvel Universe. And why there is no match for the Great Lakes Avengers.