The Avengers are known across the Marvel Universe as Earth's mightiest heroes due to the powerful members on their ever-growing roster of popular characters, which has included over 125 members since the team formed in 1963's The Avengers #1 from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
With so many members over the years, The Avengers have seen quite a few different types of characters join the team, including a few of the weirdest heroes the Marvel Universe has ever seen. Here's a look at some of The Avengers' strangest members.
10 D-Man Based His Costume Design On Wolverine And Daredevil
Dennis Dunphy gained his enhanced strength from the Power Broker prior to his involvement with the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation as a superpowered wrestler, though he only became D-Man (after his ring name of Demolition Dunphy) after he began working unofficially with Captain America.
Dunphy took inspiration from two of his favorite heroes when he created his costume, which was an amalgamation of Daredevil's original red and yellow suit with Wolverine's iconic mask, though D-Man has since upgraded his costume. He joined with the Avengers when Steve Rogers reformed the team as The Captain after the Inferno event, though his membership was short-lived.
9 Gilgamesh Was An Exiled Eternal Known As The Forgotten One
Another member of The Captain's short-lived Avengers team that formed after Inferno and included members like D-Man was the Eternal formerly known as The Forgotten One, who reclaimed his original name of Gilgamesh during his time with the Avengers.
The Eternals had a long rule of non-involvement with humanity that led to Gilgamesh's exile from his people. While Gilgamesh received a modernized look with later Eternals stories, his costume during his time as an Avenger was only one of the qualities that made him a strange member before he ultimately returned to the Eternals.
8 Two-Gun Kid Was A Time-Traveling Cowboy From The Wild West
Matt Hawk was a lawyer in 1870's Tombstone who was trained as a marksman by a legendary gunfighter who cautioned him to hide his identity or live a life hunted for his skills, which led to his creation of the Two-Gun Kid.
The Avengers found themselves traveling through time during a battle with Kang the Conqueror that landed them in the Old West and in the company of Two-Gun Kid. The Kid traveled back with the Avengers to become an honorary member and learn about the future before he returned to his original time.
7 Jack of Hearts Is A Human/Alien Hybrid Trapped In A Containment Suit
Jack Hart was the son of an alien Contraxian whose bodies were split with two different colors and a human scientist who had developed a powerful new energy source known as Zero Fluid. The Zero Fluid irreparably transformed young Jack after he was exposed during his father's murder, confining him to a playing card-themed containment suit he designed in honor of his father.
As Jack of Hearts, the character spent some time in space after he was kidnapped by The Stranger before he eventually joined the Avengers to help him control his powers. Unfortunately, Jack of Hearts continued to lose control until his devastating explosions ultimately took the life of his teammate Scott Lang/Ant-Man.
6 Mantis Is The Celestial Madonna And A Prophetic Half-Plant Alien
To say the character of Mantis has a confusing history with the Avengers is underselling it, as she was prepared since birth by the Priests of Pama to become the Celestial Madonna in order to bring about a prophecy from the alien plant life known as the Cotati.
Mantis has been both an Avenger and a Guardian of the Galaxy over the years. Her martial arts skills, empathic abilities, and prophetic visions made her a valuable ally, though her destiny as the Celestial Madonna and connection to the alien Cotati easily make her one of the strangest Avengers.
5 Aaron Stack Was The 51st Attempt At Creating A Sentient Machine Man
Dr. Abel Stack was a military scientist working on a project to create sentient robots for warfare. His work produced 50 failures but succeeded with X-51, who first appeared in the pages of Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey comic adaptation before joining with the rest of Marvel's heroes.
X-51 The Machine Man eventually took on the name of Aaron Stack in honor of his creator and joined as a reserve member of the West Coast Avengers after he assisted the team. Machine Man is strange for a number of reasons, including his frequent description of human beings as "fleshy ones."
4 Sabretooth Is A Mutant Serial Killer Who Has Joined The Avengers Twice
One of the strangest things about teams like the Avengers is that a mutant serial killer like Sabretooth can somehow join the team on not one, but two separate occasions. His inclusion on the team really pushed the limits of The Avengers' drive to rehabilitate former villains that began with characters like Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch.
Victor Creed was included in one of the first teams to use the name when Nick Fury recruited him alongside characters like Kraven The Hunter, Dominic Fortune, and Silver Sable for a mission in the 50s. He later joined a roster of the Avengers Unity Squad following his heroic inversion during the AXIS event, though he soon left the team and returned to his original murderous ways.
3 Starfox Is The Brother Of Thanos And An Eternal With Pleasure Manipulating Abilities
While the Eternal known as Thanos the Mad Titan has become one of The Avengers' greatest enemies over the years, the team welcomed his brother Eros as the costumed adventurer named Starfox. Eros first came to Earth hoping to cater to his womanizing personality and reconnect with The Avengers who he had previously met in space.
He was christened Starfox and joined the team intermittently for a few years. While his strength and psionic abilities were an asset to the team, his pleasure-manipulation abilities caused a few problems and cast a shady light over the character's actions when he was brought up on charges in later issues of She-Hulk, beginning his move from strange to creepy.
2 The Protector Was A Multiversal Kree Super-Soldier With Insect DNA
Marvel Boy first introduced the multiversal character of Noh-Varr, a Kree soldier from an alternate reality who underwent genetic and technological manipulation to become a super-soldier. These changes included spliced cockroach DNA to enhance his body as well as nanotech injections to give the character's powerset an even stranger origin than most of The Avengers.
Noh-Varr would later join with The Avengers after receiving a new mission from the Kree Supreme Intelligence to become the Protector of Earth, which came along with powerful new Nega-Bands and a new costume. However, his allegiance to the Kree Empire caused him to briefly betray the team, and he abandoned his Protector identity when he was kicked off of The Avengers.
1 Captain Universe Was A Broken Construct When She Joined The Avengers
The Enigma Force is a construct of the universe that uses the powerful Uni-Power to empower chosen hosts as Captain Universe when heroes are needed to help protect the galaxy. Characters like Spider-Man and X-23 have been chosen to serve as Captain Universe, though the strangest choice was also the only one to become an Avenger.
Tamara Devoux was an amnesiac who was slipping away in a coma when she was chosen to become Captain Universe, and she revealed her choice was due to both Tamara and the universe being broken due to multiversal incursions during the "Time Runs Out" storyline. While Captain Universe eventually healed Tamara and moved on, her time with The Avengers was still strange.