There are few team leaders out there who are as good as Cyclops. A brilliant field commander, he's also excelled at taking a team of disparate individuals who barely knew how to use their powers and forged them into a formidable fighting force. On top of that, he was able to lead mutantkind through some of its darkest times. Sure, he made some mistakes after a while but he was able to hold it together rather well for a long time.
The Avengers are Marvel's foremost superhero team and have had some great leaders. While the team's function is fundamentally different than that of the X-Men, some of those leaders have been greater than Cyclops and some have been worse. This list is going to look at leaders from both categories.
10 Worse Than Cyclops: Iron Patriot (Norman Osborn)
After Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn was put in charge of the superhero world. It's almost like the government wasn't paying attention to all of those years of terrible villainy. Putting together his own team of Avengers from a pool of villains and giving them the heroic identities of past members of the team, Osborn would use a repainted suit of Tony Stark's armor and become the Iron Patriot.
Norman Osborn was not a good leader. He was only able to keep his team in line because of his control of the Sentry and the team bungled their way through missions, winning mostly on sheer muscle more than from Norman's leadership. Add to that the fact that he would sometimes freak out in insane rages, and he was just a terrible leader.
9 Better Than Cyclops: Luke Cage
After Civil War, being a superhero was illegal without a license because Iron Man decided that being a fascist was better than trusting his friends. Anyway, there were two teams of Avengers at this point- the "legitimate" team led by Ms. Marvel and Iron Man and the outlaw team led by Luke Cage.
At this point, Luke had only been an Avenger for a little bit and was thrust into a leadership position during one of the most trying times in Avengers history. What makes him better than Cyclops is that he was able to hold the team together, keeping them ahead of Iron Man trying to arrest them, the Skrull invasion, and then Norman Osborn trying to arrest them. That's pretty impressive on one's first outing as a team leader.
8 Worse Than Cyclops: Captain Marvel
Speaking of the "legitimate" Avengers of that time, Carol Danvers was the team's field leader when she was known as Ms. Marvel (we're calling her Captain Marvel here only so she doesn't get confused with Kamala Khan). It's hard to point at anything terrible she did, but it's also impossible to point at anything good she did, too.
She was leading a team of powerhouses, so it was impossible to fail. If Cyclops had a team with people as powerful as Ares, the Sentry, and Wonder Man on it, he would have caught Luke Cage's Avengers in about twenty minutes and had plenty of time left for saving the world every couple of days.
7 Better Than Cyclops: Havok
Havok was given command of the Avengers Unity Squad after Avengers Vs. X-Men, a team that combined Avengers and X-Men. Things on the team got pretty contentious as time went on and the team splintered, failing to stop the Apocalypse Twins and Kang from removing mutants to their own planet and destroying the Earth.
However, Havok was able to persevere. He went back in time, got the team back together, and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat, even defeating his brother Cyclops in the process when he had a whole world of mutants working against him.
6 Worse Than Cyclops: Vision
Vision briefly led the West Coast Avengers and it was a disaster. Why? Well, he had just went through a bunch of traumatic experiences and decided that the best thing to do was take control of the all of the world's computer systems and try to run the world.
It took years for Cyclops to lose it hard enough to try and take over the world and that only happened because of the Phoenix Force. Vision just wasn't cut out for leadership.
5 Better Than Cyclops: Hawkeye
Hawkeye doesn't get taken very seriously nowadays, but he was actually the founder of the West Coast Avengers and a very good leader. His team didn't have the powerhouses of the main squad, but he was able to lead them to victory constantly and still get the best jokes in.
Hawkeye had very little to work with during his tenure as leader of the West Coast Avengers and still triumphed. Cyclops is good, but working against Avengers level threats with a team as relatively weak as the West Coast Avengers in his first tenure of leader would have ended in disaster. It's impressive that Hawkeye was able to do as well as he did.
4 Worse Than Cyclops: Dr. Druid
Dr. Druid... so, Dr. Druid is like a wannabe Doctor Strange, but without all the cool powers. He actually predated Strange, first appearing in 1961 in stories by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby before disappearing until the 80s, when he would become a member of the Avengers.
However, he got himself mind controlled by Ravonna, Kang's girlfriend, and then usurped leadership of the team from Captain Marvel (the Monica Rambeau one). Ravonna would end up taking control of the entire team because of him and he would get sucked into the time stream with her when it was all over with.
3 Better Than Cyclops: Wasp
For years, Janet Van Dyne was portrayed as a flighty socialite. She was a valuable member of the team, but no one thought she'd ever be the Avengers' leader. However, she would serve as Avengers chairwoman for a long time and was one of the best leaders the team ever had.
No one thought she would do a good job at first and she had to work against their expectations, including Hercules' super misogynistic attitude. Cyclops didn't have to overcome nearly as much as she did when she took over the team.
2 Worse Than Cyclops: Iron Man
Iron Man is a great guy to bankroll the Avengers, but he's terrible as a leader, and this is exemplified by his time as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and Avengers leader after Civil War. He constantly failed during this time. He was never able to catch Luke Cage's New Avengers team and completely missed everything the Skrulls were doing right under his nose.
He allowed his power to go to his head and even though he literally had control of every legal superhero in America, still messed the whole thing up, allowing the Skrulls to almost take over the world. Cyclops would never make the same mistakes Iron Man did.
1 Better Than Cyclops: Captain America
Was there any doubt? Captain America is the greatest leader in the Marvel Universe. With a few words, he can motivate a team to take on a threat that is many times more powerful than them and lead them to victory. There's just something about Captain America. Always putting himself out in front, Captain America is the leader that everyone wants to be.
The ironic thing is if you asked him, he would tell you that Cyclops was better than him and that's one of the reasons why he's the best - he's as humble as he is skilled. Cyclops is a great leader, but Cap is just next level.