In 1961, DC Comics found great success with its newest superhero team, the Justice League of America. Seeing dollar signs, publisher Martin Goodman turned to his editor and told him to create a superhero team for their own books. The editor, Stan Lee, working alongside iconic artist Jack Kirby, gave birth to both the Fantastic Four and Marvel Comics.
Since then, Marvel Comics has introduced a wide array of superhero teams. Some of those teams stand out as the best superhero groupings comics have ever seen. Others are, to be kind, not so great. These are the five best, and the five worst, Marvel superhero teams of all time...
10 Best: Fantastic Four
The team that kicked it all off still stands tall as one of the greatest. While the lineup has changed from time to time, it always returns to the original members, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing. Marvel's First Family gained their powers when their experimental space ship was belted by cosmic rays, and in a sign of the long-form storytelling style that rules comics today, it wouldn't be until the third issue of their series that the Fantastic Four would get superhero costumes.
It is impossible to underestimate the impact that the Fantastic Four, and the 102 issue run that Jack Kirby and Stan Lee had on the series, impacted the comic industry. Without the team, there would be no Marvel Comics.
9 Worst: Wolfpack
According to ancient legend, the Wolfpack has existed for two millennia and was created to battle a group of evil, heartless men called the Nine. The first version of this team that readers were introduced to were a group of teens from the Bronx who were brought together by a man known only as Mr. Mack. Mr. Mack had trained the five teens since they were children, making them expert fighters. Only when they were ready to battle the Nine did Mr. Mack introduce the teens to one another.
A second Wolfpack appeared in Marvel's "House of M" event. This team consisted of Speedball, Turbo, Darkhawk, Rage, Alex and Julie Power, and Rafael Vega, a member of the original Wolfpack. Both teams were pretty lame.
8 Best: Avengers
This list could just be made up of great Avengers teams, like the West Coast Avengers, the regular Avengers, and the Young Avengers - or of the less than great Avengers teams like the Great Lakes Avengers - but that would be cheating. Instead, we'll just give Marvel's biggest superhero team one spot.
Just about every great Marvel hero has been on the Avengers, even some characters who don't really fit into the overall idea of the Avengers, like Wolverine or Daredevil. Like DC's Justice League, the lineup of the Avengers is always shifting, but their goal remains the same - protect the Earth.
7 Worst: Darkhold Redeemers
The demonic Elder God Chthon wrote Darkhold, a book of dark magic that was so powerful it took the combined might of Marvel's ancient wizards to contain it. Over time, pages from Darkhold were stolen, and the Montesi family line was selected to find the missing pages and secure them once more.
Led by Victoria Montesi, last of the Montesi bloodline, the Darkhold Redeemers searched for a demon who was using the pages to grant wishes to mortals in exchange for their souls. What those foolish mortals didn't know was that the wonderful wishes they were granted would eventually become nightmares. While the Darkhold continues to show up not only in Marvel Comics but in cartoons and on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D as well, the Darkhold Redeemers were quickly forgotten.
6 Best: X-Men
Like the Avengers, we could make a list of only X-Men teams, but that would be cheating. Instead, we will include all the groups that the Children of the Atom have had under one umbrella. Considering the amazing success that the X-Men have become, it is shocking to think that at one time, Marvel's mutants had their series canceled.
From comics to cartoons to movies, the X-Men have stood out as one of the biggest superhero teams in pop culture. The countless teams that have spawned from Professor Xavier's original crew of five teens have all left their mark on the Marvel universe.
5 Worst: Slingers
Inspired by a bad idea, Slingers was a team of four teens who took on their superhero identities based on the four separate identities Spider-Man took on when he was wanted for murder.
One of the more insane sales schemes of the 1990s, the first issue of Slingers was broken into four separate comics - the same story was told in all four issues, but each one was seen from the point of view of a different character on the team. The scheme didn't work well, and Slingers was canceled with #12.
4 Best: Squadron Supreme
Originally introduced in Avengers #70 as Squadron Sinister, the Squadron Supreme was created to be an analog of DC's Justice League for the Avengers to fight before being reintroduced a year later as heroes from an alternate Earth. In 1985, the team was given their own miniseries written by Mark Gruenwald, with art by Bob Hall and John Buscema.
While it took a long while, Gruenwald's story finally found a fanbase after the writer's untimely death. Today, the Squadron Supreme is a part of the Marvel Universe proper, and there are rumors that they will be showing up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before long.
3 Worst: The Craptacular B-Sides
Straight out of Raven's Perch, New Jersey, the Craptacular B-Sides was a team of three teens put together by a conman named Charley Huckle who wanted to create the next New Warriors. The team made up of Jughandle, Fateball, and Mize, take on their first mission - to stop the evil Doctor Dark, but are outmatched. Lucky for the new heroes, the Fantastic Four showed up and saved the day.
Their second mission saw the Craptacular B-Sides saving two cats from being microwaved at a diner, only to learn that the cats were actually Skrulls, and the man trying to microwave them is a Kree. Once again, the FF is there to take care of the problem, leaving the Craptacular B-Sides with nothing. That was the last anyone heard of New Jersey's least-known superhero team.
2 Best: Runaways
The children of supervillains, the Runaways quickly became a fan favorite superhero team, and with good reason. Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona's team of teens was a modern-day version of what made Marvel stand out in the 1960s and 70s. The stories about the Runaways are equal parts superhero action and teen drama, making for entertaining reading.
The team's members, most notably the super-strong Molly Hayes and the powerful witch Nico Minoru have stood out as some of the best new characters to appear in comics in the last twenty years.
1 Worst: Teen Brigade
Put together by Rick Jones - the Forest Gump of the Marvel universe - the Teen Brigade was a group of teenagers who took it upon themselves to act as a news network for superheroes. Using their CB radios, the Teen Brigade would send out messages of supervillain sightings. The Hulk was the teen gang's favorite hero, and when Loki tried to make the world think that the Green Behemoth was a public menace, they took to their radios looking to get the Fantastic Four involved. Instead, Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp responded to their calls, and the Avengers were formed.
The Teen Brigade was actually a huge help to the heroes of the Marvel universe for a time, even helping find a cure for the poison Baron Zemo infected Wonder Man with. Sadly, the Teen Brigade was shut down after one of the members lured the Avengers into a trap set up by Immortus.