Saturday, February 16, 2008

The Worst Avengers Line-Up Ever...?

'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', or 'Earths Most Random Collection of Hero-types'?...Or the WORST Avengers line-up EVER in the entire MULTIVERSE??

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Gilgamesh is solely responsible for the bad line-up then? Because the rest of that team looks pretty solid.

Siskoid said...

While Thor and Captain America (that's him and not USAgent, right?) are on there, the two FF members will always be associated with the Fantastic Four (they even kept the 4 on their shirts). It's so random.

How would you like it if you finally made Avenger and every time you showed up, someone would say, Hey the FF are here!

Poor Gilgamesh, truly he is The Forgotten One.

Anonymous said...

"Poor Gilgamesh, truly he is The Forgotten One."

...especially since everyone says, "Hey look! It's Cow-Man!" every time he shows up.

Anonymous said...

"Who let Bova into the Avengers? Oh! It's you, Gilgamesh!"

snell said...

Siskoid--yeah, I always thought they're keeping their FF uniforms while being Avengers was something of a slap in the face...sort of like Johann Santana insisting on wearing his Twins uniform even though he's on the Mets now...

Yes, if you look closely enough at the cover, he's identified as "Steve Rogers, The Captain." This was during the brief period when the govt had stripped Rogers of the Cap identity and given it to John Walker...

Mark--It really is the worst costume ever, isn't it?

Cardboardjudas--no, I think the whole team has really bad "balance," as it were...Gilgamesh certainly isn't the worst individual member of the Avengers ever. But with this lineup, we have
a) Both Thor & Gilgamesh, which certainly gives too much weight to the "mythological strongman" side of things. Same reason why Thor and Hercules were never active at the same time
b) Poor balance personality-wise, for a team book. There's nobody there who'd crack a smile, let alone a joke (unless Bendis suddenly started writing their dialogue). Basically, they're all staid and humorless.
c) This may be personal, but I agree with Siskoid...Reed & Sue just don't belong in the Avengers (although I'd be more likely to buy Johnny or Ben).

I'd also complain about the 300th issue being the wrong place to launch such a radically non-tradtional-Avengers lineup, but the Avengers anniversary issues have always been disappointing, so maybe it was jus as well...

cardboardjudas said...

Snell - I only have the vaguest recolection of Gilgamesh, i didn't start reading any avengers until about a year after this issue, around "Acts of Vengence", wikipedia says he's an Eternal.

I do agree with the Fantastics not belonging on the team, but i do think the line-up could actually be pretty successful. With the exception of Gilgamesh (whose costume indicates he is indeed the comic relief) these are the elders of the MU, the most responsible and accountable heroes. The first family(which includes the worlds smartest man), Capt. America and Thor (a god!).

While i'll concede that there isn't the 'balance' needed for a readable comic team, i still think it's a good line-up for an effective team.

Well we may not agree but we can at least agree they are the whitest Avengers team ever.

Siskoid said...

3 out of 5 blonds? Yeah, very white indeed.

Gilgamesh was the Eternal most likely responsible for the Babylonian legend, so the mythological aspect holds. Especially if using that name and "ethnic" costume.

And yeah, the Torch and Thing might have been better Avengers. Indeed, Ben Grimm was a member of the West Coast Avengers for a time and he fit in well.

Dougie said...

But if you squint really hard, it could be Hank and Jan and Black Knight. Or Hercules! Thor and Hercules were both Avengers around issue 350, weren't they?

Tim Roll-Pickering said...

Yes but Thor at that stage was Eric Masterson. I think the 260s and 270s are the main period when both Hercules and the original Thor have been active on the team.