In the MCU, the Avengers are heroes we can all look up to. Overall, they are good people who do their best to do the right thing and save others. While most of the time the Avengers are saving the world and looking out for others, they aren’t perfect. Part of what makes these characters so interesting is that they are complex and make mistakes. Sometimes, the mistakes they make are pretty egregious ones.
Here’s a list of the worst thing each Avenger has done, ranked.
SPIDER-MAN: PUTTING HIMSELF IN DANGER
It’s hard to imagine Peter Parker in the MCU ever really doing anything wrong. He’s a big sweetheart who is always trying to help other people, even when he’s not entirely sure what he’s doing. This is why he’s at the bottom of this list because, so far, he hasn’t done too much wrong.
The only thing that can maybe be considered a mistake is when, in Spider-Man: Homecoming, he continues to put himself in danger, even when Tony Stark tries to keep him from doing so. However, Spider-Man isn’t one to sit around and do nothing, so it’s hard to blame him.
BLACK PANTHER: BEING RASH IN CIVIL WAR
Black Panther is one of the wisest and gentle Avengers. However, he does go through a bit of a journey. In Captain America: Civil War, he is devastated by the death of his father T'Chaka. This leads him to go on a revenge mission, as he thinks that Bucky Barnes is the murderer.
His actions are a bit rash but mostly justifiable. Plus, as soon as he realizes he blamed the wrong man, he quickly changes course and offers Bucky a sanctuary. This proves that T’Challa is a fair, generous person.
HULK: THE DAMAGE HE DID WHEN HE COULDN’T CONTROL HIMSELF
This is another one that’s a bit hard to quantify. Hulk definitely did damage to property and even people when he was in Hulk mode before he learned to control that side of himself. However, it’s hard to place too much blame on him because he clearly didn’t mean to, and Bruce Banner was always extremely harsh on himself and felt guilty.
So, when it comes to the worst things, some of what matters is intent. If Bruce had gone on Hulk rampages purposefully, it would be a lot more wrong.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: GOING BACK IN TIME
This one is a matter of opinion, but looking at how Steve Rogers went about his time travel in Avengers: Endgame, he doesn’t come out too good. While Steve deserves to have some rest and maybe be a little selfish, he basically abandoned all of his friends and a world in recovery to do so.
Plus, he didn’t seem to think at all about Peggy or if she would even want this life. It seemed like he made a lot of presumptions going back in time like that, and messing with time travel for pure personal game seems pretty selfish.
DR. STRANGE: HIS ATTITUDE AS A SURGEON
Dr. Strange has quite an interesting journey in his movie. He goes from being a highly skilled but arrogant surgeon to being unable to work because of a car crash, and this begins his journey to become Dr. Strange.
Stephen Strange is highly arrogant and vain, and his worst action goes to show that some of the worst things you can do can be to yourself. When he recklessly is driving and looking at patient records, he puts himself and his life at risk. He ends up paying a big price for this mistake.
THOR: HIS GENERAL IMPULSIVITY
Thor is generally a character that is hard to get mad at. He’s overall very upbeat, brave, and hilarious. Of course, Thor isn’t perfect, however. At the beginning of his journey in the first Thor movie, we see his more reckless and immature sides in full force. He is impulsive in ways that lead to mistakes.
This is part of his journey in learning to become more mature and stable in order to be fit to be a king. Luckily, Thor is able to harness these more negative sides of himself as the Thor trilogy progresses.
BLACK WIDOW: HER TIME AS AN ASSASSIN/SPY
Black Widow is a complex character. She spent much of her life as an assassin and spy before turning to the hero side and becoming an Avenger. During her time as a spy, she did a lot of bad things.
However, she is always concerned about making amends and becoming better. Her past is also further complicated because, in many ways, she was a victim. She was taken to the Red Room and trained from childhood, and it’s hard to place blame on a child who had no choice in the matter.
SCARLET WITCH: JOINING UP WITH ULTRON
When we first meet Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, she is one of the villains. She understandably has frustration and anger towards Tony Stark after seeing one of his weapons used to kill her parents.
However, her choice to join with Ultron to try and destroy Tony has a lot of flaws. She goes along with him even though he is clearly a villain. However, when she sees what Ultron really wants to do, she switches course and joins up with the Avengers instead.
IRON MAN: CREATING ULTRON
Age of Ultron was definitely not the best Avengers movie and left many of the characters looking more like bad guys than heroes. Tony Stark spends his time as Iron Man partially trying to make up for the damage that Stark weapons did in the past. He clearly wants to protect the world, but his attempt at making Ultron is misguided.
The damage done in Sokovia is clearly mostly on him. But let’s not forget that Bruce Banner supported and helped make Ultron, too. Making Ultron is clearly a case of how the best intentions can still lead to awful things.
HAWKEYE: MURDERING PEOPLE AS A VIGILANTE
One glaring problem with Endgame is Hawkeye’s storyline. While he was understandably in grief after losing his entire family, there were millions of people who lost others, too. He chooses to channel his anger by becoming a vigilante.
While he might be targeting bad people, it’s pretty problematic that he thinks he is judge and executioner here. Plus, many fans have pointed out that having Hawkeye go after gangs from other countries comes off weird.