All month-long we'll be featuring top five lists about either the Avengers or the X-Men. Here is an archive of all the past top five lists!

In this installment, we'll look at the top five Avengers government liaisons.

Enjoy!

HONORABLE MENTION

Raymond Sikorski was pretty much just sort of there.

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5. Maria Hill

I like Maria Hill as a character but as the liaison for the main Avengers team she was not a major factor on the title. She works a lot better as head of SHIELD.

4. James Murch

Joe Casey did a nice job setting up Murch as the obstacle that the Avengers had to clear to get their clearance in Casey's behind-the-scenes take on the first 16 issues of the Avengers in the 2005 mini-series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (with Scott Kolins on art). Murch was a worthy adversary, if a bit of a prick. Casey brought Murch back for a final ignoble departure in a set up for his Zodiac series.

3. Duane Freeman

Freeman didn't do a whole lot during Kurt Busiek's run (besides be the noble sacrifice when everyone in Washington D.C. was killed) but I still like the twist that he was a liaison who legitimately loved working for the Avengers

2. Victoria Hand

After making her the second-in-command to Norman Osborn during Dark Avengers, Brian Michael Bendis did a fine job redeeming the character of Victoria Hand in the pages of New Avengers. Her character arc was quite compelling.

1. Henry Gyrich

The man, the myth, the annoying...Henry Gyrich. I've always felt that a good test of a writer's imagination is how they write Henry Gyrich. It is hard to write a character with so much gray in him like Gyrich. He is a jerk but a jerk who thinks he is doing what is best for the world and is often correct. The temptation to make him an outright villain is so great that I figure if a writer can come up with better ways to use him, then he or she is showing some strong imagination. Luckily, even when he has toed the line of being outright villain (in Nicieza's Thunderbolts and Brubaker's recent Captain America) there always seems to be an easy out (like "he was brainwashed!").

That's the list! Agree? Disagree? Let me know!