Avengers Assemble!
My favorite Avengers stories
2026 is shaping up to be a big year for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. For starters, Avengers: Doomsday is hitting theaters this December. It’ll be the first Avengers movie since Avengers: Endgame was released in 2019. That one went on to make almost $2.8 billion at the box office. Decent. More importantly (at least for me), a new event comic called Avengers: Armageddon is coming this week from Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz, and Frank Alpizar.
I have been loving Chip’s Captain America and Wolverine: Armageddon series that are setting up this event, so I’m obviously very excited for what he has planned. If that wasn’t enough, it was just announced that Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto will be the creative team on the ongoing Avengers title in November. All of this Avengers excitement has me thinking about my favorite stories featuring Marvel’s premier superhero team. I have once again set myself some parameters. First of all, all of these stories are oriented around the actual Avengers. That may seem obvious, but there are a lot of stories featuring all of Marvel’s most popular heroes thrown together without highlighting a specific team. This includes big crossover events like the original Secret Wars (1984), Infinity Gauntlet (1991), and Civil War (2006). Those stories all include the Avengers, but they aren’t stories driven specifically by the Avengers. I’m also not including any stories featuring the Ultimates. I know that the Ultimates are essentially the Avengers of both Ultimate Universes, but they aren’t called the Avengers. If you want to be included in a list of Avengers stories, then you damn well better call yourselves Avengers. Other than that, everything else is fair game! Just keep in mind that these are my personal favorite Avengers stories and not an attempt to come up with a list of the objectively best Avengers stories.
“Once an Avenger…” from Avengers (Vol. 3) #1-3 by Kurt Busiek and George Perez
I’m kicking off this list with the story that made me an Avengers fan in the first place. To set the stage for this one, this was the first arc of the new ongoing Avengers series that launched in 1998 after the not-so-beloved “Heroes Reborn” series that was kicked off by Rob Liefeld. With Earth’s Mightiest Heroes back on Earth-616, a new series with a new creative team was needed. The one we got is arguably the greatest to ever do it: Kurt Busiek and George Perez. Busiek’s encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel history and his understanding of what makes the characters tick combined with Perez’s unrivaled ability to draw numerous yet distinct characters on page made them the perfect creative team to launch this new book. They wasted no time exhibiting these strengths as the first arc featured every living character at that time who had ever been an Avenger.
I’m not exaggerating. We’re talking about dozens of characters coming together to take on a global threat. In this case, that threat is Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend. She ends up creating an alternate reality where our heroes are turned into medieval versions of themselves. It’s just a really fun adventure story that is both a throwback to classic tales while also being self-aware (exemplified by Hawkeye shouting, “Oh, man! Not another alternate reality! Not again!”). It also provides an opportunity for Perez to unleash his full power as he draws dozens and dozens of characters in both traditional costumes as well as reimagined medieval versions of their classic looks. As if all of that wasn’t reason enough to read this story, it also features the return of Wonder Man with a new “ionic energy” look. It’s a perfect introduction to the team for new readers while simultaneously rewarding longtime fans.
“Breakout” from New Avengers (Vol. 1) #1-6 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch
I am admittedly not as high on the Bendis era as others are, but I do genuinely like his first arc on New Avengers. It certainly doesn’t hurt that David Finch is the artist. The story is relatively simple and small scale for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: it’s a prison break! The prison just happens to be The Raft, so its inmates are supervillains rather than ordinary criminals. Classic Spider-Man villain Electro is the ringleader of this little breakout, but plenty of other villains are involved.
I really like this story for two reasons (other than the aforementioned artwork). The first is that it’s a really fun and organic way to assemble a new roster of Avengers. A prison full of supervillains trying to escape is going to require more than one superhero to intervene. They all do so independently of each other, but once they’re all together it becomes evident that they make a good team. It also leads to some matchups between heroes and villains that rarely interact with one another. Unfortunately for Carnage, that means having to deal with Sentry.
The other reason I enjoy this arc is because it radically altered the way Avengers rosters would be constructed going forward. The Avengers are typically thought of as Marvel’s version of DC’s Justice League, but that comparison wasn’t always accurate. The primary appeal of the Justice League since its inception is that all of DC’s most popular superheroes (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.) were on one team in one book that fans could buy and read. This wasn’t the case for the Avengers for most of the team’s existence. The two most popular individual Marvel superheroes are Spider-Man and Wolverine. Spider-Man has been the flagship character pretty much since his debut in the 1960s, and Wolverine has been the second biggest superstar for the publisher since at least the 1980s. Aside from the occasional crossover story, those two characters had never been regular members of the Avengers. Spider-Man was considered a solo superhero pretty much exclusively, and Wolverine was only seen as being part of the X-Men. This story changed that. Both characters joined the team in these issues, and they have frequently been members ever since.
“Kang Dynasty” from Avengers (Vol. 3) #41-55 by Kurt Busiek, Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer, Ivan Reis, and Manuel Garcia
We’re already going back to the Busiek well! This was the last major arc from his run, and it features one of the most iconic Avengers villains: Kang the Conqueror. Kang is probably my second favorite Avengers villain (my favorite will be making some appearances later on this list), and this is one of his most epic stories. If you’re not familiar with Kang, he is a narcissistic warlord from the 30th century who likes to travel back in time to test himself against the greatest heroes from different eras just so he can prove that he is the greatest conqueror in history regardless of time period. In other words, he’s an insufferable asshole.
In this particular arc, Kang and his son (taking on the Scarlet Centurion mantle that Kang sometimes uses) travel back in time to the 21st century aboard a giant sword-shaped spaceship called the Domacles (get it?) in order to conquer the world with his army equipped with advanced weapons from the future. And he does! Yes, this is the rare story where the villain wins. Well, he wins temporarily at least.
The highlight of the arc is the “‘Nuff Said” issue. This was a publishing initiative from Marvel where various comics were released without any dialogue written. That is Avengers #49 for this series, and it’s the point in the story where Kang annihilates Washington, D.C. and kills everyone living there. Brutal stuff! This issue was published in December of 2001, so kudos to Marvel for having the guts to put out a comic like this in the political environment of the time.
This is just a really action packed Avengers story that gives them something to actually avenge. Plus we get to see Captain America kick the absolute shit out of Kang. What’s not to love about that?
“Avengers: Twilight” from Avengers: Twilight #1-6 by Chip Zdarsky and Daniel Acuna
Avengers: Armageddon ain’t Chip’s first time writing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. He and Daniel Acuna tackled them in the pages of Avengers: Twilight. I’ve heard a lot of people refer to this as Marvel’s Kingdom Come, and…that’s actually pretty accurate.
This is the story of a dystopian future United States where superheroes have been outlawed as part of The Watcher Act. James Stark (son of Tony Stark and Janet Van Dyne) is President of the United States, and his top adviser just so happens to be Red Skull in disguise. No wonder the country turned into a fascist hellscape. An elderly Steve Rogers gets fed up with the state of things, so he reassembles the Avengers to do something about it.
This is just a really well written comic with some incredible artwork courtesy of Acuna. It provides some not so subtle commentary on the current state of the world, but it also has the same timeless quality of the previously mentioned Kingdom Come that should make it a classic for years to come.
“Rage of Ultron” from Avengers: Rage of Ultron by Rick Remender, Jerome Opena, and Pepe Larraz
Avengers: Rage of Ultron is the rare original graphic novel published by Marvel, and it’s also one of the best. It is split into two parts (both written by Rick Remender). The first part tells a story about a battle between the Avengers and Ultron in the past illustrated by Jerome Opena. The second part is the story of the Avengers and Ultron doing battle in the present illustrated by Pepe Larraz. Yes, this graphic novel is illustrated by two of the most talented artists on the planet. It’s a big part of why I love it. I believe this was originally intended to take place outside of current continuity, but it was so good that it ended up being folded into the main Marvel Universe.
That first half illustrated by Opena is an old school Avengers fight with Ultron. If you’re not already familiar, Ultron is a robot built by Hank Pym who has become sentient and now views organic life as its enemy. He is hands down my favorite Avengers villain ever. This particular battle is a ferocious one that ends with Ultron getting launched into space where he will never harm anyone ever again.
The second half illustrated by Larraz is set in present day when Ultron returns in a particularly bad mood. Whoopsie! He has infected the entire moon of Titan, and now he’s back to get revenge on the Avengers (especially his “father,” Hank Pym).
Both sections aim to explore the relationship between Pym and Ultron. It’s not too unlike the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his monster. Pym feels a significant amount of guilt for what his creation has done, and Ultron feels betrayed and abandoned by his creator. It’s a great exploration of one of the best villains in Marvel’s roster.
“Time Runs Out” from Avengers (Vol. 5) #35-44 and New Avengers (Vol. 3) #24-33 by Jonathan Hickman, Jim Cheung, Valerio Schiti, Stefano Caselli, Kev Walker, Mike Deodato, Szymon Kudranski, Dalibor Talajic, and Mike Mayhew
This was the final arc of Hickman’s run on Avengers and New Avengers prior to Secret Wars, and it’s a banger. This is going to be incredibly difficult to sum up in just a few paragraphs, but I’ll do my best.
The driving force behind Hickman’s runs on Avengers and New Avengers is the emergence of recurring apocalyptic events called incursions. This is when two different universes within the multiverse collide into each other. The point at which they make contact is always Earth. If the two Earths make contact with each other, both universes utterly annihilated and blinked out of existence. If one of the Earths is destroyed first, then the other universe is saved. This will theoretically keep happening until no more universes remain. Got it? Prior to “Time Runs Out,” no one really has any idea who or what is causing this to happen. In fact, most of the characters don’t even realize it’s happening. The primary Avengers team up to this point had been completely out of the loop. The groups that were aware of the incursions at the start of this arc were the Illuminati (the protagonists of the New Avengers series), the Cabal (a team of supervillains led by Thanos), Rabum Alal and his Black Swans (a mysterious god and his followers), the Black Priests (an enigmatic multiversal religious order), and the Mapmakers (an artificial intelligence cataloging universes to be destroyed by incursions), and a mysterious group only hinted at thus far called the Ivory Kings.
“Time Runs Out” is the story in which the main team of Avengers learn about the incursions and get involved (though initially they just want to bring down the Illuminati). From there, we see the creation of a new team of Multiversal Avengers (led by Thor and Hyperion) as well as learning the identities and motivations of Rabum Alal, the leader if the Black Priests, and the Ivory Kings themselves.
We also see characters like the Captain Britain Corps, Doctor Doom, Molecule Man, The Maker, and multiple variants of Kang get involved in the story. I don’t want to spoil any of the big reveals in case folks want to read it for themselves for the first time, but I will just say that I highly encourage you to read it prior to the release of Avengers: Doomsday as I suspect quite a bit of that movie will draw from this arc.
“No Surrender” from Avengers (Vol. 7) #675-690 by Jim Zub, Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Pepe Larraz, Kim Jacinto, Sean Izaakse, Paco Medina, Joe Bennett, and Stefano Caselli
“No Surrender” was a pretty wild experiment undertaken by the three writers of the different titles in the Avengers line at the time. All three existing books were consolidated into one title that would be published weekly and telling one long story over the course of sixteen issues. Those three writers (Jim Zub, Mark Waid, and Al Ewing) would work together on this massive undertaking to conclude their respective runs while also launching some new series in the process.
This story is an absolute blast. The basic premise is that most of the most popular Avengers over the years are suddenly frozen in place as though in some sort of stasis. As if that weren’t bad enough, two rival teams of villains (the Black Order and the Lethal Legion) get dropped on Earth as part of the most high stakes game of capture the flag of all time. It’s left up to the unfrozen B team of Avengers to figure out what’s going on and save the day.
It’s eventually revealed that the whole thing is a game being played by two Elders of the Universe: Grandmaster and a previously unknown Elder referred to as Challenger. It turns out that Challenger used to be called Grandmaster, and he’s playing this game of intergalactic chess to win his name back. Again, this is just the most fun you can expect to have with a comic book. It’s just weekly high octane action from some of the best writers and artists working at the time.
Also, it’s the first appearance of the Immortal Hulk.
“Avengers Forever” from Avengers Forever (Vol. 1) #1-12 by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco
I highly doubt that there has ever been a list of the best Avengers stories that did not include this one. This also happens to be the third story on this list written by Kurt Busiek and the second revolving around Kang the Conqueror. I think it’s safe to say that Busiek has a soft spot for that time traveling asshole.
The premise of this particular story is that Immortus (a variant of Kang who exists even further in the future) has targeted Rick Jones (famously a sidekick to multiple different heroes over the years) with assassination at the behest of three powerful entities called the Time Keepers because they have seen a potential future in which humanity forms a cruel and brutal empire that spans the galaxy, and Rick Jones’s access to something known as the Destiny Force plays a key role in the formation of said empire. Fortunately for Rick, Kang the Conqueror shows up to save the day because he hates his own future self (the feeling is mutual) and wants to ruin his plans. Rick then uses the Destiny Force to summon various Avengers from different points in time to form a team that will help him and Kang mount a resistance to Immortus as they jump across different times/realities. Very simple stuff.
I love this comic. It does a fantastic job of balancing incredibly nerdy science fiction stuff with the heart and soul of what being a hero (and specifically an Avenger) is all about. It also features some of the best artwork of Carlos Pacheco’s career. Each issue has at least one splash page that is just out of this world good. It’s a must read for anyone who enjoys superhero comics.
“Infinity” from Infinity #1-6, Avengers (Vol. 5) #14-23, and New Avengers (Vol. 3) #7-12 by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, Mike Deodato, Stefano Caselli, Marco Rudy, Marco Checchetto, Jim Cheung, Leinil Francis Yu, Jerome Opena, and Dustin Weaver
I probably rate this one a little more highly than others, but I don’t care. I love this story. This major event essentially marks the halfway point of Jonathan Hickman’s time writing Avengers and New Avengers. Those series were always barreling towards Secret Wars, but Hickman gave readers a little appetizer to hold us over with Infinity.
Much like “Time Runs Out,” the driving force behind this story is the threat of incursions. It’s just that most of the characters involved don’t yet know about them. One group that has become aware of them is a race of super advanced aliens called the Builders. They (along with Builders in other universes throughout the multiverse) have decided to try and save the multiverse by destroying Earth in every universe. This is obviously a problem for those who live on Earth, so the Avengers head off into space to rally the most powerful empires in the galaxy together to defeat the Builders. While that’s happening, Thanos and his Black Order see the perfect opportunity to invade Earth while Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are off in space. It turns out that Thanos has been traveling around the galaxy attempting to murder any children he has fathered over the years, and one of those kids is an Inhuman in our neck of the woods. Only the Illuminati are in a position to do anything about it, so that sets up some epic battles on Earth.
The scale of this story is staggering. The fight on Earth against Thanos and the Black Order would normally be one of the biggest stories you’ll see in a Marvel event, but here it’s little more than a side story as the Avengers, Shi’ar, Kree, Skrulls, Brood, Spartax, and Annihilus work together to prevent the Builders from enslaving the entire galaxy as they march towards Earth. Thanos versus Black Bolt is a fight I never knew I needed to see, but it’s somehow not even one of the best fights in this story.
Thor being the biggest badass in the galaxy continues a tradition of the Odinson having the coolest moment in a major Avengers story. Seeing the toughest warriors from the various great empires fighting together with the Avengers instead of playing the villains of the story is also incredible to see.
It’s an epic in the truest sense of the word, and I geek out all over again every time I read it. It manages to have a satisfying conclusion while still setting up future stories that would ultimately lead into Secret Wars.
“Ultron Unlimited” from Avengers (Vol. 3) #19-22 by Kurt Busiek and George Perez
There was only one option for my favorite Avengers story ever. I view “Ultron Unlimited” as basically a perfect comic, and it is the reason that Ultron will always be my favorite Avengers villain. This is the best Avengers story, from the best Avengers run, written by the best Avengers writer, and illustrated by the best Avengers artist. Obviously it’s my favorite.
Part of what made this comic hit so hard for me is the way it was rolled out. I knew that Busiek and Perez were planning to do an Ultron story, but there really wasn’t a ton of buildup. There was no real indication of what kind of story it would be. When Avengers #19 came out, it made it seem like it was going to be a pretty standard story with Ultron breaking into some facility to execute his new plan. Nope! I was a fake out. Turns out it was Alkhema. She was a robot built by Ultron to be his bride, but they had some marital issues. Now she’s here to try and crush the Avengers just to spite Ultron before he can get the chance. I love the pettiness. The Avengers defeat her only to arrive home and see what Ultron is actually up to on the news. He has launched an attack on the Eastern European country of Slorenia, and he has exterminated every single man, woman, and child residing there. Mass genocide.
It’s such an unexpected horror. I had been reading this series from the first issue, and I was taken completely by surprise by this reveal. From there, the Avengers and a United Nations peacekeeping force go to Slorenia to defeat Ultron and whatever army he has amassed. Unfortunately, the members of the Avengers most closely tied to Ultron (Giant-Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Wonder Man) are abducted by a small group of older Ultron models while the strike team is en route.
Once the strike team (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Firestar, and Black Panther) arrives, they begin fighting through Ultron’s army composed of the reanimated corpses of the Slorenians he massacred and turned into cyborgs because he’s the worst. They finally end up reaching Ultron himself (going by Ultron-16 to indicate that he’s the sixteenth model), and get into a ferocious battle. He’s eventually defeated only to reveal that Ultron-16 wasn’t the latest model as Ultron-17, Ultron-23, and Ultron-458 show up. “Ultron Unlimited” is starting to make a lot of sense as a title.
The final issue has a lot to live up to after the previous three, and it frankly surpasses expectations. It is just an absolute war as the Avengers fight through waves of Ultrons while trying to reach Ultron Prime and rescue their friends. It’s a classic bit of “heroes overcoming impossible odds” storytelling, but it’s executed perfectly between Busiek and Perez. I don’t want to spoil the climax for anyone who hasn’t read it, but I will share this page from when the Avengers finally reach their nemesis. Thor drops one of the most iconic lines in the history of the Avengers (I’m still mad he doesn’t utter it in Avengers: Age of Ultron), and suddenly it’s Ultron who feels like the one in trouble.
These are obviously the stories that stand out to me as someone who has been reading comic books for the vast majority of my life at this point, but there are plenty more out there to be read. Hopefully Avengers: Armageddon can join this list in the near future.
Can't dispute anything on this list! I'd honourable mention No Road Home as well, but that's a rather uneven road, and Conan is very uncomfortably shoehorned into it. Forever is a series I've read many times over the years and it always delights. Too bad we lost Kang from the upcoming, I think he's the best villain for the Avengers for very long reasons I won't go into here! When I was first into comics the bug avengers event was Operation: Galactic Storm which I haven't revisited, but I think remains a good goal posting of what the scope of an Avengers blow-out story should be.