It was inevitable. We have to stack up two of the biggest teams in comic book history against each other now that they’ve become part of mainstream pop culture. And the Justice League versus the Avengers is a contest that would break box office numbers three times that of Avengers: Endgame if it becomes a reality.
For the time being, we’re going to have to live off of our own assessments on this matter, and based on what we’ve seen these teams achieve, we’ve compiled points that will determine who would walk out the winner at the end of the clash. For this list, we’ve considered mainly the core members of the Avengers and the Justice League, and given lesser weight to those superheroes who don’t normally form part of the teams.
10 Ruthlessness: Avengers
Even though Marvel is known to be more kid-friendly compared to DC’s more darker material, it’s the DC superheroes who hold back on killing when they can. Their most premier heroes in Batman and Superman are notorious in their no-killing rule, with other heroes like the Flash also showing restraint.
Meanwhile, Marvel superheroes ignore any moral problems they might have from taking lives, and generally kill off their enemies. Some heroes like Spider-Man do hold back, but for the most part the Marvel heroes go all out. This is why, in a face-off between the two factions, it would be the Avengers who would go in for the kill, while the Justice League will most likely prevent themselves from going all-out.
9 Tactical Advantage: Justice League
Both sides have geniuses whose intellects are unfathomable, but here we aren’t talking about brains where gadgets or science is concerned, we’re looking at the genius needed to cripple the opponent.
There’s no better person for to settle the victory for the Justice League than Batman, whose detective skills are so incredible, he can come up with contingency plans for any character. We saw how deadly these plans can be in the “Tower of Babel” storyline, and the Avengers will be at the total mercy of Batman should he have time to assess their weaknesses.
8 Heavy Hitter Advantage: Justice League
Heavy hitters are those characters who can be the deciding factor in a fight that requires show of strength. Even magically powerful characters like Doctor Strange can be overwhelmed when facing strength that can’t be countered, making the heavy hitters the deciding factors in most cases.
Here, one only needs to look at Superman, who is powerful enough to take out the Avengers power hitters in Thor and the Hulk. If Superman needs back up, then you have additional options in Wonder Woman and Aquaman, both of whom would turn the strength portion of the battle easily on the Justice League’s favor.
7 Main Inherent Powers: Justice League
We hate using just the one character to decide who gets the point, but the Flash really is too overpowered if you want to consider inherent abilities. It’s been confirmed the speedster can travel at an attosecond, which we can’t even begin to comprehend. With the speed blitz, no one can see him coming, and the Flash can destroy the Avengers’ ranks. Then you have the Martian Manhunter, whose telepathic abilities can fry anybody’s brain.
For the Avengers, it is characters like Thor and Scarlet Witch who rank highest in this regard, but they just don’t have the speed or resistance to counter the inherent powers the Justice League members have.
6 Main External Powers: Avengers
You can pull off literally hundreds of weapons from either side of the universes, making it impossible to please everybody. So, we’ll be going for the most well-known weapons from the universes.
Although the Anti-Life Equation is something the supervillain Darkseid is associated with, you can still apply it as something the Justice League might make use of given an all-out war against the Avengers. However, its power of mind controlling everything still isn’t as immense as the Infinity Stones. These objects give the wearer power over everything you can think of, and the Avengers can use them to wipe out the Justice League in a snap.
5 Back Up: Justice League
This one was decided in favor of Justice League just by a hair, but ultimately it has the more powerful assortment of heroes to choose from. The Justice League has allies that not only span across the universe, it even has members who are from the future!
The Avengers have also seen supremely powerful characters help them, like the Silver Surfer among other beings, but the Justice League have the might of several planets like Apokolips and New Genesis, where they have allies that have perfected the use of Mother Boxes. A character like AMAZO from the DCAU can take only two seconds to finish planets, so you can see how the Justice League has the full advantage here.
4 Enemy Assistance Advantage: Justice League
Here’s something to think about: how many times have antagonists become allies? We’ve seen this happen in both universes, with powerful characters the likes of Doctor Doom joining the Avengers, while the Justice League had Lex Luthor arrive in their ranks, and even joined forces with Darkseid.
In this regard, we’re going to have to give the edge to the Justice League, who would have the advantage of having super genius minds (both heroes and villains) work together as well as characters like Darkseid who are billions of years old.
3 Established Victory: Justice League
In the 2003 crossover story titled “JLA/Avengers”, the two factions came across one another when they were used as pawns by their respective universe’s villains. As the misunderstanding escalated, the teams locked horns. For the most part, the heroes stalemated their generally accepted counterparts, with the one exception between Thor and Superman - the Man of Steel won the contest.
Following this, the teams realized they were being manipulated and joined forces, but if you want to do a headcount, then it is the Justice League who came out with the most points, handing them the victory.
2 Battlefield Removals: Avengers
Comic book fans consider using this feature as cheating, since Battlefield Removals are an instant way toward victory but don’t showcase any particular expertise. Here, all one has to do is open up a portal or figure out a way to dump their opponent so far away they stop being a threat.
And who better to do this than our very own Doctor Strange? His disadvantage would be Hawkgirl’s mace, which counters magic, but Doctor Strange can still catch her unawares and throw her somewhere else. Similarly, Doctor Strange can conjure up hundreds of portals to the farthest outreaches of space or the deepest pits of the ocean and cast the Justice League to their deaths.
1 Winner: Justice League
With such a large variety of intrinsic powers on their side, the Justice League are too strong a team for the Avengers to topple. Marvel’s ace team could turn the tide in their favor if you bring in the X-Men or other factions, but the core Avengers don’t stand much of a chance against DC’s mighty superheroes.
The Justice League have all the bases covered a 100% (except maybe magic), and have safeguards against the strong points for the Avengers. The clash between these two would be epic, but we can be certain it would be Superman and company standing tall when all is said and done.