Best Avengers Comic Storylines, Ranked

Story Found In: Civil War #1-7

Avengers story lines hit their peak when the Avengers fight each other, even with a huge lineup of enemies.Civil WarThis story gives heroes a good reason to fight other heroes. The US government enacts a law forcing powered people to register and show their real names.

Story Found In: Avengers Vol 1. #89-97

The Kree hate the Skrull, and the Skrull hate the Kree. They cannot fight it out without hurting Earth. The Avengers get involved, and "The Kree/Skrull War" has much to deal with.

Story Found In: Avengers Vol 3. #19-22

This series of action pieces ends with a deus ex machina taking down a villain aiming for his preferred world domination.Ultron UnlimitedThis offers a pair of unforgettable moments.

Ultron defeats and slaughters the fictional nation of Slorenia in under three hours early on. To announce his plan to replace organic life with robots, he screams at the reader while standing on a pile of Slorenian corpses.

He really wants to build a robotic master race with unique personalities, treating him as a family monarch. This is sad.

Story Found In: Avengers Vol. 1 #4

"The First Avenger" was out of print for nearly 10 years. Stan Lee brought it back, explaining the absence with a resurrection retcon. This issue tells the story of Bucky's death and Captain America falling into the Arctic ocean (and cryogenic hibernation) for the first time.

Namor plays the villain in this four-color story. His temper flares, and he throws Captain America's ice block tomb into the ocean. The Avengers pull Cap from the water. Cap helps them defeat Namor and remove a confused alien threat from the world.

Story Found In: Avengers Vol 1. #273-277

Though it lacks the usual Avengers squad, "Under Seige" has strong points. Interpersonal drama, like Hercules and Black Knight's sexism toward Wasp's leadership, is intense. The villain, Baron Zemo, has a credible, cruel plan to take Avengers Mansion. The Avengers lose more than they win, and there is a lot of punching.

Story Appears In: Avengers Vol. 1 #1

The first issue of Avengers came about because Daredevil #1was late. Stan Lee suggested combining existing heroes to fill a slot on the schedule. He hoped every scheduling mistake would prove profitable.

Loki uses illusions to pull Iron Man, Wasp, and Ant-Man into a fight with the Hulk to distract and attack Thor. Thor clears the mess and beats Loki, but that is not the main point.Avengers #1.

Story Found In: New Avengers #1-6.

Along withThe Ultimates., the launch ofNew Avengers.This team largely caused the Avengers' current popularity surge. After the Avengers split up, writer Brian Michael Bendis put Captain America in charge of a new group. He added popular characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine, who were not before in the Avengers. He also brought in street-level characters like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage to give theNew Avengers.a wide mix of powers and personalities.

Story Found In: The Avengers Vol. 3 #41-55, Avengers Annual 2001.

Kurt Busiek's biggest contribution to the Avengers canon is also one of the best, maybe the most well-made. This is the Avengers story of everyone. Kang, the time-traveling, tech-savvy warlord, creates the opposition for this arc by starting a full war on the Avengers and Earth.

Deviants, Atlanteans, radioactive Russian zombies, and a space pyramid made of pure evil hurtling toward them leave the Avengers little time to fix their own problems, let alone Kang. Thor gets stuck in a faith crisis and wants to quit the Avengers. Yellow Jacket has a split-personality breakdown, and Warbird (Carol Danvers) must handle her choice to kill The Master of the World.

Kieron Dwyer's artwork is great. It includes several famous covers and issue #49. That issue has no dialogue but shows the Avengers giving up to Kang.

Story Found In: Avengers Vol. 1 #167-168, 170-177.

"The Korvac Saga" is the thinking person's Avengers story and a heavy, philosophical tragedy. Michael Korvac is a computer programmer from the future who becomes a cybernetic villain obsessed with taking data and power.

He accidentally siphoned some Power Cosmic from Galactus. Expanded awareness from cosmic omnipotence softened his attitude. He became a pacifist. He fell in love with an immortal cosmic energy being named Carina. They hid as regular middle-class suburbanites in 1970s New York.

Even after settling down, the Guardians of the Galaxy keep looking for Korvac, and they ask the Avengers for help. When they find him, a fight starts where Korvac hurts and kills most of the Avengers. As Carina loses faith in him, he commits suicide, which brings back the dead Avengers, and she lets Thor's hammer kill her to join him.

Story Found In: Avengers Forever #1-12.

Hardcore Avengers fans get this storyline. Avengers from the past, present, and future fight Immortus, the Master of Time, across different history eras. Writer Kurt Busiek used this to pay tribute to golden and silver age comics while guessing a wild future where humans rule the cosmos. He also revisited untold backstories for key moments in Avengers history.

Immortus turns out to be a future version of Kang, one of the Avengers' deadliest enemies. Kang joins the time-traveling mess to save himself from a bad fate—becoming a jerk.

Story Available In: Avengers Vol. 1 #115-118, DefendersVol. 1 #8-11

Avengers fighting other super teams beats Avengers fighting each other. "The Avengers/Defenders War" is the best example.

Steve Englehart's plot works well. Loki and Dormammu trick both the Avengers and Defenders into seeking an artifact called The Evil Eye. Both teams split up, so one member from each team reaches each piece at the same time. This creates showdowns you always wanted to see.

Story Found In: The Ultimates #1-13

Bryan Hitch's amazing, cinematic art fueled Mark Millar to write Avengers stories in a universe more real than before. Though not official, The Ultimates shows some of the best Avengers storytelling. It largely formed the basis forthe first Avengersfilm.

These Avengers operate as a para-military group, not a mansion crew. Nick Fury gathered them to contain another Hulk freak-out. They lack the main universe's happy-go-lucky attitude. Thor holds back help for his environmental agenda. Bruce Banner has little control over the Hulk. Ant-Man's spousal abuse returns, and Captain America breaks his jaw.

Story Found In: Captain America #398-400, Avengers West Coast #80-82, Quasar #32-35, Wonder Man #7-9, Avengers #345-347, Iron Man #278-279, Thor #445-446

"Operation: Galactic Storm" follows "The Kree/Skrull War." This version happened in the '90s. Marvel made readers buy many comics to follow the whole story.During that time, the Kree fought the Shi'ar. Both groups used our solar system as an interstellar stopover, causing solar instability. This act is cosmic rudeness.

Operation: Galactic Storm is more than a fight. Six writers handled it, yet it explores heavy themes. The Shi'Ar launch a cosmic nuclear weapon. The Kree leader, the Supreme Intelligence, engineered the war to cleanse his people genetically. The Avengers debate assassinating the Supreme Intelligence. Thor and Captain America object, but they proceed anyway.

Story Found In: The Ultimates 2 #1-13

The second volume ofThe UltimatesMark Millar and Bryan Hitch explore what happens if Avengers exist in a more realistic world than the main Marvel Universe. The rest of us would freak out in that real world.

Public opinion turns against the Avengers. The masses learn Thor was a former mental patient. They also find out scientist Bruce Banner is the monster accused of mass murder from his Hulk rampages. Volume 3 includes a sex tape scandal involving Iron Man and Black Widow.

Story Found In: 1602 #1-8

1602This is not strictly an Avengers story. Trying to grasp how this alternate reality formed will make your head explode. Still, it offers a great take on the Marvel Universe with plenty of avenging.

No heads explode. Just know that in1602, writer Neil Gamian Neil Gamian shows how the Marvel Universe might look set in the 17th century instead of the 20th. The story is vague and focuses on restoring the original universe. The period costume designs really stand out. Captain America appears as a blonde Native American.Iron Man's armorrunning on "lightning bottles," and the Scarlet Witch as a nun are memorable.