Marvel has some amazing super teams. Teams like the Avengers and X-Men are household names, and the Fantastic Four were the first Marvel superheroes of the Silver Age. These three teams are the pinnacle of the Marvel teams roster, but that doesn't mean they're the only games in town. Over the years, there have been many amazing Marvel teams and they deserve the spotlight as much as the big-name ones.

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There are so many great Marvel teams that have fallen by the wayside over the years or just generally lost prominence. This is a shame because they have so much story potential.

10 The West Coast Avengers Was Such An Amazing Team

West Coast Avengers #37

The Avengers are the greatest heroes in the world but their old base in New York meant it took them longer to get to some threats than it should have. That's just one of the things about the West Coast Avengers that was so cool. They were created in response to a genuine need and it let them quickly react to attacks on the west coast of the US and along the Pacific rim.

On top of that, the team was positively stacked with some of the greatest Avengers ever. Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Vision, War Machine, Wonder Man, Mockingbird allcalled the team home. If Marvel invested A-list heroes in a reboot, this team would succeed just like it did before.

9 The Defenders Are The Only Non-Team In Marvel History

Original lineup of Marvel's Defenders

The Defenders always felt like they were supposed to be the Avengers' sister team, but they evolved into something very different. The first roster consisted of Dr. Strange, Hulk, Namor, and Silver Surfer, a powerful line-up that squabbled like there was no tomorrow. Later rosters would incorporate former X-Men like Beast, Iceman, and Angel, as well as Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Gargoyle, and more.

The Defenders were never a traditional team and became known as Marvel's "non-team." They worked together, but they weren't like other groups. Their unique rosters made them great to read about, and they hold a special place in Marvel history.

8 The X-Men's Gold Team Got Overshadowed By The Blue Team

Marvel-X-Men-Gold-Team

The X-Men's split into Blue and Gold Teams was a new way of looking at the mutant team. It was a great solution to the problem of the X-Men's crowded roster represented, but looking at the two groups, the Blue Team got stacked with the most popular X-Men. This made the Gold Team often seem like the odd team out, which was ironic because it was vastly more powerful than the Blue Team.

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Led by Storm, this team also boasted Jean Grey, Archangel, Iceman, and Colossus. Bishop eventually joined and rounded out the team. It had incredible muscle for such a small team and boasted some of the most iconic, if slightly less popular, X-Men.

7 The Dark Avengers Was One Of Most Entertaining Marvel Teams In Years

Dark Avengers Norman Osborn As Iron Patriot

The Bendis years of the Avengers books have their hits and misses. The Dark Avengers were definitely in the hit column. Born during the Dark Reign era of Marvel, the team boasted Bullseye, Venom, Moonstone, and Akihiro posing as Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, and Wolverine, respectively. Joined by Ares, Noh-Varr as Captain Marvel, and the Sentry, they were led by Norman Osborn as the Iron Patriot.

The team was ridiculously powerful and equally entertaining. They took the best of the latter days Thunderbolts and combined it with Avengers-level adventures. Marvel tried to bring different iterations of the team back, but it never had the impact of the first group.

6 The Newest X-Factor Roster Was One Of The Best Ever

X-Factor feature

X-Factor has always been one of the most unsung mutant teams, and the Krakoa-era version of the group followed suit. Gathered to investigate the deaths of mutants outside of Krakoa, the team had a storied roster: Northstar, Prestige, Polaris, Prodigy, Eye-Boy, Akihiro, and Aurora. The team dealt with battles against Mojo and the Irish goddess Morrigan and were one of the best parts of the Krakoa era.

Unfortunately, their book was canceled just as it was hitting its stride. The team was a great mixture of personalities of various sexualities and ethnicities, all of whom played off each other very well and proved to be the perfect investigative group.

5 The Midnight Sons Gathered Marvel's Most Powerful Supernatural Heroes

Rise of the Midnight Sons cover

The Marvel Universe has some powerful magic users, but the supernatural side of things isn't as well sketched out as it could be. In the early '90s, Ghost Rider was at the height of his popularity, so Marvel wanted to capitalize on that by gathering the Midnight Sons. The informal group initially consisted of Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Morbius, Blade, Hannibal King, and Frank Drake but ballooned as the years went by.

Just about every mystical Marvel hero found their way onto the Midnight Sons. It's such a great team concept, the most powerful magical heroes banding together, one that is always ripe for a comeback.

4 The New Warriors Were Marvel's Premiere Teen Team Of The '90s

Marvel New Warriors

Teen teams in Marvel don't have the same popularity as they do at their distinguished competition unless they consist of mutants. The closest Marvel had to a non-mutant-based teen team with a modicum of popularity was the New Warriors. This powerful team of teens consisted of Night Thrasher, Nova, Speedball, Namorita, Marvel Boy/Justice, Firestar, Rage, and Silhouette and was the home of Marvel's '90s teen scene.

Fans loved the group for a while. The roster was packed with powerful, interesting heroes. However, later attempts at reboots never worked out for the group. Civil War destroyed them right when they had a chance to shine again as a reality show super team.

3 The Original Guardians Of The Galaxy Was Marvel's Answer To The Legion Of Superheroes

The Original Guardians Of The Galaxy

The Guardians of the Galaxy are one of Marvel's biggest success stories, starting from the bottom and rising to one of its most well-known teams. The original roster and concept was quite different from the modern one, teaming up heroes from the 30th century like Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Yondu, Martinex, Starhawk, and Nikki to fight the evil Badoon.

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The team made several trips to the past and teamed up with the Avengers. They were basically Marvel's Legion of Superheroes in a lot of ways, featuring stories that explored the Marvel Universe's future. They're a much better team than they get credit for but have been eclipsed by the modern MCU's version of the Guardians.

2 Generation X Kept The Teen Mutant Torch Alive In The '90s

header-Mondo-Generation-X-Annual-95

The New Mutants were the teen mutant team of the '80s, but once they broke away from the X-Men to form X-Force, there needed to be a new place for young mutants to go. That would end up being Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy. Joined by Banshee, Frost helped train the next generation of young mutants- Jubilee, Synch, M, Husk, Chamber, Skin, and Mondo- known as Generation X.

Generation X were the perfect mix of power and personality. The team had some amazing adventures and proved to be just as good as their New Mutant predecessors. The team has been rebooted once, and while its book was cancelled, it did a great job with the newest generation of mutants.

1 Alpha Flight Deserves A Return To Prominence

Alpha flight group shot

Alpha Flight is the Avengers of Canada, a team of heroes out to defend the world and the Great White North from every threat. Consisting of Guardian, Vindicator, Sasquatch, Northstar, Aurora, Shaman, Snowbird, Puck, Box, and others, the group had some exciting adventures. Their heyday was the '80s, although a mid-'90s revival helped get eyes on them again.

Since then, the team has been unsuccessfully relaunched several times, with the most recent iteration being a space service that serves as a Captain Marvel spotlighting mechanism. A back-to-basics approach would be much better, bringing Canada's defenders home again.

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