Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, has had a variety of teams, members, and adventures under their superhero belt. No matter the variety of roster members or adaptations of the comic series, the Avengers have always contained some of Marvel's most powerful members ready to save the Earth from any huge crisis.
But within the world of mutants, gods, and superhuman members, the Avengers have also had some of Marvel's best martial artists within their team. Without their powers, the combined martial arts knowledge and skills of their roster could probably still handle most evil threats just fine. And any martial arts tournament would faint at the roster of talented fighters that have called themselves an Avenger.
10 Hercules Invented A Martial Art
The Olympian hero has helped the Avengers thanks to his super strength and ancient combat skills. For instance while he's known for brawling with the likes of Thor or the Hulk, Hercules can also subdued many villains with his skills in Greco-Roman Wrestling. In addition, he may have also invented a martial art.
According to the comics, and Greek legend, the ancient Greek Martial Arts of Pankration was created by Hercules and Theseus. Pankration is considered one of the oldest martial arts in the world that primarily focuses on boxing and wrestling, combat skills Hercules has used plenty of times.
9 Mockingbird Is Skilled In Taekwondo
Besides the Avengers, Bobbi Morse, or Mockingbird, has also served as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. This means that her inclusion on both teams includes extensive knowledge in both unarmed and armed combat. Mockingbird easily one of the Avengers' most solid martial artists.
When it comes to weapons, Mockingbird is partial to the use of batons and staffs,. In fact her batons can combine to form a staff. She is of course not limited to those two weapons, as she has knowledge 0n a variety of others. But when it comes to martials arts, she's been known to uses kung-fu and the Korean martial art taekwondo, which would explain some of her devastating kicks to enemies.
8 Hawkeye Is Trained By Captain America
Hawkeye is almost synonymous with the Avenger name, having served in a variety of spin-off teams and versions of the superhero group. Fans are used to seeing the Avenger with his trademark bow where he shows off his expert marksman skills. However, he isn't just limited to bow and arrows as he's actually known in the Marvel Universe as being skilled with any weapon.
But when it comes to unarmed combat, he's no pushover either. He might get outshone by other entrants down the list, however Hawkeye has the honor of being trained in martial arts by Captain America. And that alone grants him a edge over a number of opponents.
7 Spider-Woman's Skilled In A Variety Of Martial Arts
Jessica Drew's abilities of Spider-Woman are already impressive. The Avenger member already boasts incredible strength, an extremely painful shock and persuasive pheromones for her super power arsenal. But even if she were depowered she could still hold her own when it comes to hand-to-hand.
This is all thanks to her origin which had the current hero as a past member of the evil Hydra. Thanks to the villainous group, Spider-Women is proficient in a variety of martial arts, which include boxing, capoeira, judo, and tai-chi. In addition, she learned much of her martial arts from the Taskmaster.
6 Black Panther Has His Own Hybrid Martial Art
Black Panther is celebrated as one of the toughest martial artist combatants in the Marvel Universe. The Wakanda King already has knowledge in a variety of martial arts, however he and his ancestors have taken it a step further by creating their own style unique to the mantle of Black Panther.
Black Panther fights with a type of hybrid style that is meant to mimic the attacks and abilities of different animals as well as some acrobatic attacks thrown into the mix. It makes for a dynamic, striking, and fast type of fighting that has given even Captain America trouble to deal with.
5 Black Widow Is A Master Of Many
Natasha Romanov is often depicted as the Avenger's go-to deadly unarmed combatant. That's not to say she doesn't know how to deal with weapons, as she's just as particularly deadly with an assortment of guns, blades, batons or signature gauntlets.
But when it comes to martial arts, the Avenger is a master of many styles. Black Widow knows jiu jitsu, akido, boxing, judo, karate, savate, ninjutsu, kung-fu, kenpo, and sambo. And that's just what Marvel writers have decided to give her so far. She might get beat out by other Avengers when it comes to powers, but in terms of actual martial arts knowledge and usage, there's few that could outrank her.
4 Wolverine Knows Everything
The mutant X-Men and Avenger is regarded as one of the top martial artists in the Marvel Universe. It's almost strange to consider that seeing as how fans often see Wolverine brawling than actually using a martial arts, but thanks to his long-life span he know virtually every martial arts known to man, and few not of Earth.
Wolverine has shown that he's knowledgeable of various martial arts in some of his fights. But it's his teaching of his fellow X-Men, which includes Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, and Storm that really shows he's an ocean of martial arts skill. He also managed to hold his own against other martial arts powerhouses like Shang-Chi and Captain America.
3 Few Can Beat Captain America
For many in the Marvel Universe, Captain America is considered the ultimate benchmark when it comes to fighting skills. Many friends and foe regard him as one of the greatest hand-to-hand fighters. And given his martial arts knowledge, it's easy to see why. Specifically what Captain America knows is discussed and debated by fans.
The comics have noted that Cap was already trained during World War II by military private instructors in Boxing, judo, defendu, kickboxing, and jujitsu. When he was unfrozen, he continued his training further, seeking tutelage from modern martial artists. So his knowledge base could easily include other arts like Muay Thai and Wing Chun. Really, his knowledge is comparable to Wolverine, who has fought against quite a few times. He mostly uses a hybrid style based on what he considers the best from martial art combined with some gymnastics.
2 Iron First Is A Martial Arts Machine
Danny Rand employed his services to the New Avengers, which makes sense given his relationship to Luke Cage who was at one point team leader. Iron Fist's powers and abilities are already rooted in martial arts with the hero utilizing chi to make his fist a living weapon. Iron Fist has one of the most devastating punches in the Marvel Universe.
Yet his martial arts knowledge is incredible as he knows forms of kung-fu, akido, white crane, judo, karate, Muay Thai, ninjutsu, and wushu. The Avenger's martial arts mastery along with his chi use has caused many impressive feats, such as once knocking out a drunk Hercules shortly after the Onslaught Marvel event.
1 Shang-Chi Is The Ultimate Master
Shang-Chi is one of the most powerful martial artists in the Marvel Universe and perhaps an underrated Avengers member. While he is a master of numerous unarmed and armed wushu styles of martial arts , its his mastery of chi that helps him step above many other martial artists. Shang-Chi can use chi to perform incredible feats to prolonging his life to greatly enhancing any of his kung-fu attacks.
Shang-Chi is technically a mortal man with no natural superpowers, but fighting skills and chi mastery has helped him defeat more powerful opponents. And in Sword Master #4, Ares the God Of War even acknowledged that Shang-Chi was one of the few mortals that could successfully fight against a god. In addition, Shang-Chi has been known to spar and hold his own against Captain America and Wolverine.