The Avengers are an assemblage of some of the greatest superheroes ever created. Looking at the sheer power and breadth of their rosters over the years, it's kind of hard to imagine any foe that can take them down. This is a team of people who have beaten gods, aliens invasions, and cosmic beings. What could possibly beat them?
What if all of their enemies banded together as one and attacked them? Would that be enough? The answer is... sometimes. Enter the Masters of Evil, a who's who of the Avengers mightiest foes, banded together to destroy them. So, in a knockdown, drag-out fight for all the marbles, who would win- the Avengers or the Masters Of Evil?
11 The Avengers: Teamwork
The Avengers easily have the Masters of Evil when it comes to teamwork. While there are a lot of powerful beings on the Masters of Evil, they're also a bunch of angry, mouthy villains who don't always get along. Some of them are looking to backstab their way to top and as a whole, they're just untrustworthy people in general.
Their teamwork is confined to "everybody hit that dude", which can be effective to an extent. The Avengers, on the other hand, are a unit of friends who know that to win a fight, sometimes you have to work together.
10 Masters Of Evil: The Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew are a group of criminals that through means both magical (Karnilla the Norn Queen gave Wrecker his powers) and nonsensical (Bulldozer, Piledriver, and Thunderball were gripping Wrecker's magic crowbar when it got struck by lightning) gained physical power that allowed them to take on Thor.
Four Thor level enemies are going to ruin any team's day and as powerful as the Avengers are, dropping these four, on top of everyone else on the Masters of Evil, in their midst is trouble.
9 The Avengers: World's Smartest Heroes
The Avengers have had some of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe on their team. Iron Man, Hank Pym, and Black Panther are some of the smartest human beings. Add to that reserve members like Reed Richards, Spider-Man, the Beast and the intelligence of android Avengers like Vision and Jocasta and the Avengers has some of the most formidable brains on the planet working for them.
All of this brainpower allows the team to figure their way out of all kinds of traps and schemes and think outside the box to solve problems. The Masters of Evil can't match that.
8 Masters Of Evil: Fiendish Strategy
The Masters of Evil are usually led by Baron Helmut Zemo, one of Captain America's greatest villains, and probably one of the best strategists of any villain in the Marvel Universe. Zemo likes to stack the Masters of Evil with supervillainous talent to give himself a lot of options in combat.
Zemo's plans are multilevel and take into account the inherent untrustworthiness of his teammates. His planning has worked so well in the past that the Masters of Evil were able to defeat the Avengers pretty handily, taking over Avengers Mansion and taking out their powerful members.
7 The Avengers: Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful being in the Marvel Universe. Her reality altering powers have allowed her to change the entire planet, molding history how she saw fit. Power like that is very hard to deal with and while her first inclination isn't to reshape the world, her powers make anything possible.
The Masters of Evil have a lot of powerful members but they don't have anyone that can match Scarlet Witch for sheer power. If Scarlet Witch wants to, she can end the fight with a few words.
6 Masters Of Evil: A Team Of Powerhouses
Zemo likes to make sure his Masters of Evil are full of very powerful individuals. Beyond the aforementioned Wrecking Crew, the team boasts Moonstone, Absorbing Man, Titania, Mr Hyde, Blackout, Tiger Shark, Goliath, and Whirlwind. That's a lot of powerful foes and it's not even the full extent of the team.
This is a remarkable assemblage of powerful beings who are more than a match for just about any team of Avengers on their own and it's not even the entire team. The Masters of Evil are stacked with power.
5 The Avengers: The Reserves
One of the great things about the Avengers is that even if the main team is beaten, they can call on one of the deepest benches of superheroic talent around. The Avengers over the years have been a who's who of the Marvel Universe and just about all of them would gladly come to the aid of their former teammates.
This is one of the reasons it's so hard to beat the Avengers- they can call on just about everybody who wears a costume to come in and pull their fat out of the fire.
4 Masters Of Evil: Their Reserves
Not to be outdone, the Masters of Evil also boast a very deep bench of villains. The supervillains of the Marvel Universe hate the Avengers, with very good reason, and looking through lists of who has been on the Masters of Evil in the past is like looking through a list of just about all of the villains of the Marvel Universe.
This gives the team a massive amount of talent to call on, a veritable army of the most powerful and dangerous villains around. They can match the Avenger's reserves in power and breadth.
3 The Avengers: Leadership
The Avengers have one of the best leaders in comics in Captain America. A master strategist with years of experience, Cap knows how to use his people to best of their abilities and his leadership has allowed them to persevere against near insurmountable odds in the past. Cap wins fights.
Sometimes, a good leader can make all the difference and Cap is a leader like that. He can take just about any team and forge them into a formidable force.
2 Masters Of Evil: The Avengers Are Scared Of Them
It's very hard to beat the Avengers but the Masters of Evil have done it. In the seminal story "Under Siege", the Masters of Evil attacked the Avengers and were able to do something that none of their foes had been able to do in the past- defeat them.
It wasn't just a defeat- the Masters of Evil demoralized the team. Ever since, the Avengers have feared another Master of Evil attack.
1 Winner: The Avengers
While the Masters of Evil were able to do a lot of damage to the Avengers, the team was still able to come from behind and secure the win. The two groups have battled each other many times over the years but no matter how bad things get, the Avengers are always able to win. The Masters of Evil can put up a good fight and may bloody the Avengers, but the good guys will come out on top.