The Avengers are Earth's Mightiest Heroes, doing their best to save the Marvel Universe at every turn. Marvel heroes and controversy are no strangers; they're enmeshed in drama, their personal and professional lives intermingling in interesting ways. The Avengers have long been a team that's drowned in drama, something made more acute by the team's more controversial members.
The most controversial Avengers range from villainous to annoying. Sometimes, it's the fans that are annoying about them and other times the fans are annoyed by them. They've made Avengers history interesting, to say the least, creating drama that fans will never forget.
10 Many Fans Never Felt Wolverine Was Avengers Material
Among Marvel's most popular characters, Wolverine jumped to the head of the line seemingly out of nowhere. His tenure with the X-Men brought him to Spider-Man levels of popularity, and he easily eclipsed all the Avengers by the 1990s. The 2000s saw him join the team alongside Spider-Man, Marvel's two most popular characters becoming Avengers at the same time.
While fans were mostly okay with Spider-Man's tenure, many rebelled against Wolverine. For years, Wolverine wasn't considered Avengers material by creators, characters, and fans. This contingent sounded off against Wolverine on Avengers. The character did cause some problems for the team, but that's not shocking.
9 Quicksilver Is The Black Sheep Of The Maximoffs
The Maximoff twins are Avengers to their core and just as controversial. However, they're controversial for different reasons. The irony is that while Scarlet Witch is actually the more villainous of the two, everyone from the characters to creators to the fans treat her like it's not her fault. Quicksilver doesn't get nearly the same treatment, despite never having killed a teammate or three.
Quicksilver is the annoying, mean one and no one can really look past that. Despite only being responsible for one bad truly villainous act - the idea for the creation of the House of M reality - Quicksilver gets all the hate.
8 Ares Lived To Get In Everyone's Face
Ares was an interesting addition to the Avengers post-Civil War. Joining the cast of Mighty Avengers as the muscle of the legal Avengers team, he was the Thor of the group, down to the old-timey helmet and melee weapon. Unlike Thor, he was rude and disrespectful to his fellow Avengers, always itching for a fight, something that felt fitting for the God of War.
Some fans enjoyed his in your face attitude and massive physicality. Others hated the character with a passion. He remained on the team during the Dark Avengers change over, and was even more gruff with his new teammates. His death was a shock for everyone, and it ended a divisive Avengers tenure.
7 "Fans" Can't Stop Complaining About Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers is a longtime superhero and Avenger, starting her career as Ms. Marvel, working with the original Captain Marvel, the Kree Mar-Vell. She'd go through names and costumes like no one's business before finally graduating to the Captain Marvel in 2015, the third woman to bear the name. For some reason, a certain segment of the "fandom" found this unacceptable.
These "fans" complained about a character that actual Marvel readers loved getting a shot as an A-lister because she "took the role of a man," something no one ever cared about before. She wasn't even the first female Captain Marvel, she was the third, which makes the whole complaint even more ridiculous. These fake fans followed her to the MCU, where they continued to complain about a beloved Marvel icon.
6 The Sentry Never Reached His Potential With The Avengers
There have been some scary Avengers, but few can match the Sentry. Brought onto the team in the New Avengers era, the Golden Guardian of Good was also the monstrous evil known as the Void, an entity only kept in check by the Sentry's sanity and some psychic blocks. Fans of the character were excited, but he basically became either a boring deus ex machina or a boogeyman.
The Sentry had all the potential in the world as an Avenger, but he was just never utilized correctly. This angered fans of the character's 2000 debut maxi-series, who wanted to see a character with such an interesting premise shine. He's never recovered from his Avengers tenure.
5 USAgent Is The Disappointing Conservative Captain America
Marvel has some rather disappointing heroes, with USAgent definitely fitting in with that number. The former soldier-turned-superpowered wrestler took Steve Rogers's place as Captain America. However, the pressure and his own belief system made him violent and unstable while wearing the red, white, and blue. Rogers was forced to come back and defeat him, taking back his mantle.
He eventually got a second chance as USAgent, becoming the Avengers West Coast Captain America analogue. He's basically the most terrible Captain America type hero imaginable. He's made all the more controversial because he was always the "conservative" Captain America and failed completely.
4 Iron Man's Recent History Has Been Contentious
Iron Man has a lot of problems as a character. These problems are often what makes him more interesting, seeing him fight against the worst aspects of himself to become the hero he should be. It was interesting to see him rise above himself, but that got lost in the shuffle starting with Civil War. Iron Man became an unrepentant fascist, exercising his power to fight his friends.
The worst aspects of the character were on display from 2006 to 2015, and then Marvel tried to make him more like MCU Iron Man. This didn't really work at all because it was out of nowhere. Since then, the character hasn't been very popular in the comics, which is a problem for Marvel's biggest breakout star of the 2000s.
3 Hank Pym Created Ultron And Allowed His Issues To Get The Best Of Him
Hank Pym is a founding Avenger and for a long time, he was the most problematic member of the group. He created Ultron, the team's worst enemy for a long time. He was the first member revealed to be living with a mental issue, as his bipolar was used as a story beat. It wasn't used in a good way, either, as his issues were played in a negative light.
Hank got pigeonholed as the Avenger who created the team's deadliest enemy, the one who hit his wife, the one who the pressure broke. It's a hind bound way of looking at mental health, and it's something that it took years for the character to beat. In some ways, it's still the defining characteristic of the character.
2 The "Fans" Struck Again When Sam Wilson Became Captain America
Sam Wilson is a venerable Marvel hero, and his 2014 take over of the Captain America mantle was considered well-deserved by most fans. As Falcon, he was Steve Rogers's most important modern sidekick and a longtime Avenger. Fans loved him and were happy to see their heroes on the main stage. However, the ugly side of the fandom reared its head.
These "fans" couldn't handle an African-American Captain America. It got so bad that mainstream news outlets reported on the "controversy" of this beloved Marvel character becoming Captain America. "Fans" of a certain type tried to hijack the conversation, something that true comic readers didn't allow, as they loved Sam as Cap so much that his return as Falcon was a failure. He's back to being Captain America again.
1 Scarlet Witch Is Problematic For A Variety Of Reasons
Scarlet Witch has committed reprehensible acts, but there's a massive corps of fans who cannot see that. They defend her to the hilt, regardless of the wrongdoing of her actions, whether it be in the comics of the MCU. This is compounded by Marvel itself bending over backwards to constantly absolve her of any wrongdoing.
Then there's the sexism and racism baked into the character. Wanda has been a target of sexist tropes for decades, her stories often revolving around her not being able to control her emotions. Her heritage as a Romani Jew was ignored for decades as well, completely whitewashed. Scarlet Witch is a basket of controversy.