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Over the course of 85 + years , Marvel Comicshas feature a number of superhero team , some memorable and some not so much . Some of Marvel ’s super - team have set the legal community high for the genre . team such as the Avengers or the X - Men helped change not only how such books were done , but superhero comics in general . Some teams , on the other script , have fallen by the roadside , some deservedly so .
Marvel ’s best superhero team are not just a collection of characters – they function well together , like a well - oiled machine . This can take many forms , ranging from the “ family”dynamic of the Fantastic Four , or the famous “ non - team ” approach take by the Defenders . The tough teams failed to make an encroachment , and in some shell are not fondly recall . Here are five of Marvel ’s best superhero teams , and five that deserve to be relegated to the bargain bins of history .
10The Avengers Set the Standard For All Other Marvel Teams
First Assembled:Avengers#1 (1963)
The Avengers first came together in 1963 , and set the mold for all other Marvel team . While they were not Marvel ’s first team , with the Fantastic Four beating them to issue by two years , the Avengers have nevertheless become the publishing house ’s premiere team . The initial line - up of Ant - Man , Wasp , Iron Man , Thor and the Hulk would not last four upshot , set the stage for the Avengers ’ fluctuating roll . Ironically , Captain America , the submarine sandwich most consociate with the Avengers , did not join until the 4th takings .
The Avengers ’ prominence in the Marvel Universe has climb and waned over the years . At times , the team has played 2d violin to other Marvel superhero squad , but since the inception of the Avengers - centrical MCU , they have been the gilded criterion for the comics as well . In addition to the MCU , Brian Michael Bendis’New Avengershelped promote the squad ’s profile by mixing Graeco-Roman favorite like Iron Man with newbie such as Spider - Woman .
9The Great Lakes Avengers Almost Made a Joke of the Avengers Legacy
First Assembled:West Coast Avengers#46 (1989)
In the early eighties , the Avengers franchise began to expand with the publication of theWest Coast Avengerstitle , and the Great Lakes Avengers took the construct of regional Avengers police squad to a ridiculous extreme . The team was created by the legendary John Byrne . run as an unofficial branch , the Great Lakes Avengers were led by Mister Immortal , and let in member such as Flatman and Dinah Soar . The team came on Hawkeye ’s radiolocation , and while he was not well-chosen with them using the Avengers name , he agreed to mentor them notwithstanding .
The Great Lakes Avengers were the tread stone for Squirrel Girl ’s meteoric rise in the 2010s .
The Great Lakes Avengers would finally expand , most famously adding Squirrel Girlto the squad . At the time she joined inGLA#2 In 2005 , Squirrel Girl was not appearing in any Word of God . Just a few years later , Brian Michael Bendis added her to the unconstipated Avengers roll , as a nanny for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage ’s newborn daughter . The Great Lakes Avengers were the abuse stone for Squirrel Girl ’s meteorologic rise in the 2010s . Other characters from the squad , such as Mister Immortal , have appeared in the MCU .
8The X-Men Are the First, and Still the Best, Marvel Mutant Team
First Assembled:X-Men#1 (1963)
The disco biscuit - manpower debuted the same twelvemonth as the Avengers , and like that squad , they aid forge a new path for topnotch team . The five member of the first X - Men team were a entirely fresh kind of superhero : they did not obtain their big businessman through conventional mean value , but alternatively were born with them . hug drug - Men atomic number 27 - Maker Stan Lee quip he created these characters , which were called “ mutants , ” because he run out of way to give people powers . While Stan Lee and Jack Kirby originated the concept , it would be later creators , peculiarly Chris Claremont , that would make the enfranchisement into what it is today .
Some fan come to see Professor X as Doctor Martin Luther King Jr and Magneto as Malcolm X , although Stan Lee and other X - Men creator have said this is not so .
While not apparent at the first , the X - military personnel would become a metaphor for oppressiveness of nonage . Fans first show a civic rights subtext into the X - Men , and later generations have added singular readings to the dealership . However , the X - Men are interpret , this has given the team their staying power . During the 1980s , Claremont and a mingy - knit squad of other writer and artists admit this concept and built the ten - Men into a sales phenomenon , and the team continues to exercise a hold on fan today .
7The First Incarnation of the Champions Lacked Focus and Charisma
First Assembled:Champions#1 (1975)
Some superhero teams , such as the Avengers , hit the mark from the very beginning , but others , such as the Champions , were fundamentally beat on arrival . Consisting of Hercules , Black Widow , Ghost Rider , Angel and Iceman , the first incarnation of the Champions lacked the focus that made other team so great . critic have take down that the team ’s card was apparently random and thrown together for the rice beer of have a squad . The volume also bear from a constantly go around squad of author and creative person , which did nothing to deposit the want of focus .
An attempted revival of the Champions post - Civil Warwas retooled asThe Order .
Some character and teams are not appreciated in their day , and instead only find their interview later – but this can not be said of the Champions . There has not been a resurgence of the Graeco-Roman lineup , nor is it even discuss by devotee except in deriding tones . While the classical personification of the Champions miscarry to make an impact , a novel reading , compose of Marvel ’s youngest Cuban sandwich , has been a smasher with fans .
6The Fantastic Four Was Something Not Seen in Superhero Comics: A Family
First Assembled:Fantastic Four#1 (1961)
The Fantastic Four helped not only found the Marvel Age of Comics , but also usher in a new type of superteam book . Unlike subsist teams , such as DC ’s Justice League , the Fantastic Four were a family , and act like one . They push and made up among themselves while staring down some of the large threat the universe could confuse at them . Stan Lee and Jack Kirby ’s tend onFantastic Fourin the 1960s is considered a mellow sucker of superhero comic books , thanks to their forward-looking , eminent - concept story and Jack Kirby ’s psyche - blowing art .
Despite rank changes , writers and artists keep returning to the Fantastic Four ’s classic batting order .
Unlike other teams on this list , the Fantastic Four ’s rank has stayed for the most part the same over the year , with a few notable exception . For a brief menstruum in the eighties , the matter blend into exile and She - Hulk take in his place and a “ new Fantastic Four , ” consisting of the Hulk , Spider - Man , Wolverine and Ghost Rider , made a few appearances in the early 1990s . Despite membership changes , writers and artists keep returning to the Fantastic Four ’s Greco-Roman lineup .
5The All-Winners Squad Failed to Live Up to Its Name
First Assembled:All-Winners Comics#19 (1946)
The All - Winners Squad was Marvel ’s first superhero squad , but somehow failed to make an impact . Admittedly , Marvel ( then known as Timely Comics ) was late to the superhero team game , having been ticktock there a few years earlier by DC inAll - whizz Comics#3 . What should have been a historical occasion for Marvel failed to bring down , and the All - Winners Squad only made two appearances during the Golden Age of Comics . At the time of their debut , superhero comics were beginning to wane in popularity , and this may have direct to the dud first appearance of the All - Winners Squad .
Marvel ’s vast Multiverse theatre uncounted worlds that make up the 8th Cosmos , but five of these iconic universe are want Marvel cognition .
While the All - Winners Squad failed to connect with fans , the idea of a squad of Marvel heroes working in the Golden Age had leg . In the 1970s , Marvel writer / editor Roy Thomas created the Invaders , a team of Golden Age torpedo with a similar demarcation - up to the All - Winners Squad , with the key difference being the Invaders run during wartime . The All - Winners Squad , on the other hand , worked largely in serenity - clip . Marvel has since debuted other Golden Age team , such as the Liberty Legion or the Twelve .
4The Defenders Were Comics' First “Non-Team”
First Assembled:Marvel Feature#1 (1971)
Unlike the Avengers , the Defenders were billed as a “ non - team , ” consist of characters who did not necessarily march in stone’s throw with the respite of the Marvel Universe , such as the Hulk and Namor . First convey together by Doctor Strange , the Defenders would experience many lineup changes over time , with former X - Men the Beast and Angel joining as well as the Son of Satan and Hellcat . Other incarnations of the team have appeared over the years , and Netflix used the name for their line of reasoning of Marvel tv shows , which includeDaredevil , Jessica Jones , Iron FistandLuke Cage .
Although the Defenders never quite reach the popularity of the Avengers , their initial book prove to have leg , and escape from 1971 to 1986 .
Although the Defenders never quite reach the popularity of the Avengers , their initial book proved to have legs , and ran from 1971 to 1986 . Today , the name is more associated with the Netflix television shows , but in 2021 , Al Ewing and Javier Rodriguez unveiled a new Defenders lineup , one that keep with the disembodied spirit of the archetype . Once again fetch together by Doctor Strange , this young group of Defenders tripped through previous incarnations of the Marvel Universe . A follow - up , led by the Blue Marvel , appeared a class afterward .
3The Nighstalkers Should Have Been A Great Supernatural Team
First Assembled:Ghost Rider(volume 2) #28 (1992)
The Nightstalkers , a squad of upright vampire , should have been a groundbreaking team , but failed to shoot down with audiences . By the early 1990s , Marvel ’s supernatural side had made a resurgence , thanks to the success ofGhost Rider . This led to character such as Blade , Morbius , and Dracula , all of whom had been MIA throughout most of the 1980s , to devolve and find new generations of lover . This box of the Marvel Universe became so democratic , the publishing house even give it a name : Midnight Suns , and begin an unprecedented expansion of the line .
Blade , Marvel ’s premiere vampire Orion , is on a quest to determine himself in a preview for his new record book , but not before forging his flaming weapon yet .
Nightstalkerswas one of the first offerings from the Midnight Suns line , star in an 18 - issue series . The squad dwell of Blade , Frank Drake and Hannibal King , all of whom uprise in Marvel ’s seminalTomb of Draculaseries . All three had been refer by vampirism , and crusade back against the undead . This premise should have made for a indisputable - fire striking , but rather the Christian Bible was strike down , with Drake and King devolve to abstruseness . Blade , on the other hired man , would asterisk in a successful solo photographic film a few long time subsequently .
2The Guardians of the Galaxy Keep Marvel’s Cosmos Safe
First Assembled:Annihilation: Conquest#6 (2008)
While not the first squad to call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy , this incarnation may be the best known , thanks in tumid part to a trilogy of feature film set in the MCU . The first Guardians squad operated in the upstage future tense , but the 2nd , head by Star - Lord , act upon in the present 24-hour interval , and consists of heavy - hitters culled from the cosmic quoin of the Marvel Universe . The team has grow over the years , with about every space - based champion at Marvel , and a few Earthbound ones too , as members .
The second incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy was written at first by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning .
What makes the 2nd version of the Guardians so great is that it take characters that were either written off , such as Star - Lord or Groot , or consider as jokes , like Rocket Raccoon , and made them viable characters in the Marvel Universe . While it can be argued the MCU made them into household names , none of that would have been possible without this reinvention of the conception . It has proven to have leg as well , with several volumes of the book having been publish .
1Omega Flight Was Intended to be the Last Word on Alpha Flight–But It Was Not
First Assembled:Omega Flight#1 (2007)
TheCivil Warevent altered the face of superheroes in Marvel ’s America , and it even spread to Canada inOmega Flight . A whirl - off ofAlpha Flight , the darling Canadian team , there have actually been several version of the squad over the years , some of which consisted of villains . This finicky Omega Flight was formed inCivil War’saftermath , and was a mixture of American and Canadian heroes , include the USAgent and Sasquatch . Omega Flightwas , at the fourth dimension of its publication , intend to be the terminal cast of Alpha Flight .
WhenOmega Flightfinally appeared , it failed to make any sort of impact . The programing conflicts that arose aroundCivil Warcurbed some of the plan forOmega Flight , but the rule book was still a dud . There have since been other incarnations of Alpha Flight , and the members of the post - civic WarOmega Flight never talk about their sentence with the team , seduce them one ofMarvel’smost forgettable super - team .
