Before they were the driving force of the most successful film franchise of all time, the Avengers had enjoyed a long and enthralling life within the pages of the Marvel comics. The first incarnation of the superhero team made their debut in Avengers #1 back in 1963, and it consisted of five founding : Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Of course, over the next five decades, the Avengers line-up has expanded, changed, and been relaunched multiple times. They’ve continued to be a staple of the comic book world - and then the Marvel Cinematic Universe earned them a newfound recognition with 2012's The Avengers.
Now, just a brisk six years later, the idea of a superhero team-up movie no longer seems like an insurmountable task, and Marvel has continued to up the ante with this year's Avengers: Infinity War — a coalescence of the last ten years and 18 films, which finds Earth's Mightiest Heroes teaming up with the Guardians thwart the Mad Titan Thanos.
Though the MCU has already promised to massively shake things up following the next Avengers installment, with Infinity War recently grossing over $2 billion and counting, we're sure the Avengers will be around to stay on the big screen for quite some time — at least in one form or another.
However, any story that has lasted this long is bound to see its fair share of plot holes, imperfections, and absurdities at one point or another. So here are 20 Things That Make No Sense About The Avengers.
20. They don't help each other out in their solo movies
When Peter Parker came up against the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it makes sense that he wouldn’t need anyone other than Iron Man to get his back. But what about when Thor faced off against Malekith in The Dark World, or when Tony Stark was investigating a string of terrorist attacks in Iron Man 3?
Both of these incidents threatened the safety of the human race on a global scale, yet they didn’t seem to make a blip on any of the other Avengers’ radars.
Thankfully, this is something that the MCU has continued to drift further away from. Producer Kevin Feige has promised more unusual team-ups in the future of the MCU, as it only makes sense that these superheroes wouldn’t go it alone with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
19. They never mention Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Defenders
Unlike the DC Entertainment -- which keeps its big and small screen continuity totally separate -- the MCU has broken ground yet again by giving movie fans a number of shows that fit within the same universe.
However, while shows like The Defenders and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. often reference the movies, the movies have never given a nod to the shows.
As the world continues to grow and the threats become more catastrophic, it’s becoming harder to believe that many of these characters inhabit the same country — let alone the same city.
This is even more apparent considering that Stark had tabs on Peter Parker before the events of Civil War, so other superhumans like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones would have surely popped up on his radar as well.
17. The government blames the Avengers for saving New York and Washington
In the comics, the citizens of America largely want the Superhuman Registration Act to because the Avengers have stopped villains on too many occasions, only to let them go so they can wreak havoc at some point in the future. In the MCU, the Sokovia Accords largely come about because the government wants to blame all the destruction on the Avengers.
By doing this, they fail to acknowledge that without the Avengers, the world would have faced far more destruction thanks to Loki and and HYDRA.
While the Avengers bear their fair share of responsibility for both Sokovia and Lagos, these cities wouldn't have even been in existence without them.
The government should also know that by totally controlling the Avengers, they no longer have plausible deniability every time the Avengers use unorthodox methods to save the world.
16. Individual character development is completely abandoned in the Avengers movies
Even though the Avengers movies do a pretty good job of making sure every character gets their fair share of screen time, their developments from the previous films are often forgotten. Or even worse, completely undone.
At the end of Iron Man 3, Tony Stark initiates the Clean Slate Protocol, which finds him destroying all of his suits and vowing to spend more time with Pepper. At the beginning of Age of Ultron, he’s back alongside the Avengers like nothing had ever happened.
More recently, Thor's character development in Ragnarok — where he loses his eye, takes up his father's mantle, and learns to be powerful without his hammer — is quickly undone in Infinity War when Rocket gives him a prosthetic and he forges Stormbreaker.
15. Every about Avengers #200 — the worst Avengers comic ever
With over 50 years of Avengers comics to chose from, there are bound to be a number of duds amidst the countless stacks. None can hold a candle to the abomination that is Avengers #200.
The plot involves Ms. Marvel going through a three-day pregnancy despite telling the other Avengers that she didn’t do anything that would have gotten her pregnant. She then proceeds to give birth to Marcus, who begins to age at an alarming rate only to tell his “mother” that he had to hypnotize and impregnate her with himself so he could escape Limbo.
As if this wasn't already enough assault and creepiness for one comic, Wonder Man and Hank Pym engage in a sexist conversation where they actually refer to women as "what's" instead of "who's."
14. The Strongest Avengers are Benched
The movies have written out some of the strongest Avengers when it’s convenient for the plot.
The best example of this is in Civil War, where both Thor and the Hulk are M.I.A. for the entirety of the film.
Either one of these characters ing the airport fight would have easily turned the tide in favor of whatever faction of the Avengers they had chosen to .
Vision is another hero who was largely relegated to the sidelines throughout the majority of his time in the MCU. This may have been to compensate for the character actually being too powerful upon his introduction, and the only way to keep the struggle interesting was to give his character an internal conflict that made him unwilling to take sides.
13. Steve and Natasha were surprised to see Bruce in Infinity War
When you have a movie as ambitious as Avengers: Infinity War, it’s understandable that certain character arcs are going to be put on the back burner for the sake of the story.
This awkward reunion between Cap, Black Widow, and Bruce had many audience scratching their heads.
The moment comes after Bruce finds Tony Stark’s phone amidst the destruction in New York and decides to place a call to Steve Rogers. Then, when Bruce finally arrives at the Avengers Compound, both Steve and Natasha seem dumbfounded by his return.
It's understandable that Natasha would still be in shock considering that they had fired up a relationship prior to the Hulk's departure, but even this goes nowhere in the movie beyond an awkward hello.
18. The team was mostly made up of criminals
While most Marvel fans were happy to be getting a live-action Avengers movie at all, we’re sure there was still a fair share of comic book loyalists who were annoyed that the original Avengers line-up on the screen was different from the one in the comic books.
A least it wasn’t the second incarnation of the team from, which was made up of four — three of which were reformed criminals.
This shake-up came after everyone except Captain America resigned, and Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver were added to the roster.
These characters had all been former villains and criminals and they had done little to redeem themselves prior to their induction to the Avengers, which made no sense for a team whose sole purpose was to dispatch characters just like them.
12. They create most of their own problems
Aside from Infinity War, the Avengers had an undefeated record when it comes to saving the planet. Exactly how many of those instances were their faults to begin with? How many times did they make things exponentially worse before coming through at the last second?
Ultron is the perfect example of this.
Stark and Banner inadvertently create the artificial intelligence that’s beset on eradicating the human race only to turn around and attempt to do the same thing again in order to make Vision.
In Infinity War, the Avengers' lack of foresight was on full display yet again. They continue to bring the Infinity Stones straight to Thanos, despite knowing that the stones are the only thing he requires to destroy the universe.
11. Their powers levels depend on the story
Of course, it wouldn’t be very interesting if we could just refer to a chart that catalogs each character’s exact powers and limitations. After all, part of the fun for comic book fans is debating which Avenger is the strongest.
When you compare the characters’ capabilities across multiple films there are some glaring contradictions.
Just look at the characters of Thor and Iron Man as two primary examples.
In the original Thor movie, the God of Thunder’s powers seem nearly unstoppable as we watch him summon up a vortex and throw around a number of Frost Giants. Then, in Avengers, he can barely hold his own against Iron Man.
Here, we also see Iron Man's suit take a number of hits from Mjolnir. Then, in Iron Man 3, one of his suits is decimated by a semi.
