5 Greatest Marvel Teams (and 5 Superhero Squads We Want to Forget)

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Over the course of 85+ years, Marvel Comics has featured a number of superhero teams, some memorable and some not so much. Some of Marvel’s super-teams have set the bar high for the genre. Teams 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 hand, have fallen by the wayside, some deservedly so.

Marvel’s best superhero teams 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 taken by the Defenders. The worst teams failed to make an impact, and in some cases are not fondly remembered. Here are five of Marvel’s best superhero teams, and five that deserve to be relegated to the bargain bins of history.

10

The 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 teams. While they were not Marvel’s first team, with the Fantastic Four beating them to publication by two years, the Avengers have nevertheless become the publisher’s premiere team. The initial line-up of Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk would not last four issues, setting the stage for the Avengers’ fluctuating roster. Ironically, Captain America, the hero most associated with the Avengers, did not join until the fourth issue.

The Avengers’ prominence in the Marvel Universe has waxed and waned over the years. At times, the team has played second fiddle to other Marvel superhero squads, but since the inception of the Avengers-centric MCU, they have been the gold standard for the comics as well. In addition to the MCU, Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers helped boost the team’s profile by mixing classic favorites like Iron Man with newcomers such as Spider-Woman.

9

The Great Lakes Avengers Almost Made a Joke of the Avengers Legacy

First Assembled: West Coast Avengers #46 (1989)

In the early 1980s, the Avengers franchise began to expand with the publication of the West Coast Avengers title, and the Great Lakes Avengers took the concept of regional Avengers squads to a ridiculous extreme. The team was created by the legendary John Byrne. Operating as an unofficial branch, the Great Lakes Avengers were led by Mister Immortal, and included members such as Flatman and Dinah Soar. The team came on Hawkeye’s radar, and while he was not happy with them using the Avengers name, he agreed to mentor them nonetheless.

The Great Lakes Avengers would eventually expand, most famously adding Squirrel Girl to the team. At the time she joined in GLA #2 In 2005, Squirrel Girl was not appearing in any books. Just a few years later, Brian Michael Bendis added her to the regular Avengers roster, as a nanny for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage’s newborn daughter. The Great Lakes Avengers were the stepping stone for Squirrel Girl’s meteoric rise in the 2010s. Other characters from the team, such as Mister Immortal, have appeared in the MCU.

8

The X-Men Are the First, and Still the Best, Marvel Mutant Team

First Assembled: X-Men #1 (1963)

The X-Men debuted the same year as the Avengers, and like that team, they helped forge a new path for super squads. The five members of the first X-Men team were a totally new kind of superhero: they did not obtain their powers through conventional means, but instead were born with them. X-Men co-creator Stan Lee quipped he created these characters, which were called “mutants,” because he ran out of ways to give people powers. While Stan Lee and Jack Kirby originated the concept, it would be later creators, particularly Chris Claremont, that would make the franchise into what it is today.

While not apparent at the outset, the X-Men would become a metaphor for oppression of minorities. Fans first read a civil rights subtext into the X-Men, and later generations have added queer readings to the franchise. However, the X-Men are interpreted, this has given the team their staying power. During the 1980s, Claremont and a tight-knit team of other writers and artists took this concept and built the X-Men into a sales phenomenon, and the team continues to exert a hold on fans today.

7

The 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 essentially dead on arrival. Consisting of Hercules, Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Angel and Iceman, the first incarnation of the Champions lacked the focus that made other teams so great. Critics have noted that the team’s lineup was seemingly random and thrown together for the sake of having a team. The book also suffered from a constantly rotating team of writers and artists, which did nothing to fix the lack of focus.

Some characters and teams are not appreciated in their day, and instead only find their audience later–but this cannot be said of the Champions. There has not been a revival of the classic lineup, nor is it even discussed by fans except in deriding tones. While the classic incarnation of the Champions failed to make an impact, a newer version, composed of Marvel’s youngest heroes, has been a hit with fans.

6

The Fantastic Four Was Something Not Seen in Superhero Comics: A Family

First Assembled: Fantastic Four #1 (1961)

The Fantastic Four helped not only launch the Marvel Age of Comics, but also usher in a new type of superteam book. Unlike existing teams, such as DC’s Justice League, the Fantastic Four were a family, and acted like one. They fought and made up among themselves while staring down some of the biggest threats the universe could throw at them. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s run on Fantastic Four in the 1960s is considered a high mark of superhero comic books, thanks to their innovative, high-concept stories and Jack Kirby’s mind-blowing art.

Unlike other teams on this list, the Fantastic Four’s membership has stayed largely the same over the years, with a few notable exceptions. For a brief period in the 1980s, the Thing went into exile and She-Hulk took 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 classic lineup.

First Assembled: All-Winners Comics #19 (1946)

The All-Winners Squad was Marvel’s first superhero team, but somehow failed to make an impact. Admittedly, Marvel (then known as Timely Comics) was late to the superhero team game, having been beaten there a few years earlier by DC in All-Star Comics #3. What should have been a historic occasion for Marvel failed to land, 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 led to the dud debut of the All-Winners Squad.

While the All-Winners Squad failed to connect with fans, the idea of a team of Marvel heroes working in the Golden Age had legs. In the 1970s, Marvel writer/editor Roy Thomas created the Invaders, a team of Golden Age heroes with a similar line-up to the All-Winners Squad, with the key difference being the Invaders worked during wartime. The All-Winners Squad, on the other hand, worked largely in peace-time. Marvel has since debuted other Golden Age teams, such as the Liberty Legion or the Twelve.

4

The Defenders Were Comics’ First “Non-Team”

First Assembled: Marvel Feature #1 (1971)

Unlike the Avengers, the Defenders were billed as a “non-team,” consisting of characters who did not necessarily march in step with the rest of the Marvel Universe, such as the Hulk and Namor. First brought 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 Marvel television shows, which include Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage.

Although the Defenders never quite achieved 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 kept with the spirit of the original. Once again brought together by Doctor Strange, this new group of Defenders tripped through previous incarnations of the Marvel Universe. A follow-up, led by the Blue Marvel, appeared a year later.

3

The Nighstalkers Should Have Been A Great Supernatural Team

First Assembled: Ghost Rider (volume 2) #28 (1992)

The Nightstalkers, a team of good vampires, should have been a groundbreaking team, but failed to land with audiences. By the early 1990s, Marvel’s supernatural side had made a resurgence, thanks to the success of Ghost Rider. This led to characters such as Blade, Morbius, and Dracula, all of whom had been MIA throughout most of the 1980s, to return and find new generations of fans. This corner of the Marvel Universe became so popular, the publisher even gave it a name: Midnight Suns, and began an unprecedented expansion of the line.

Nightstalkers was one of the first offerings from the Midnight Suns line, starring in an 18-issue series. The team consisted of Blade, Frank Drake and Hannibal King, all of whom originated in Marvel’s seminal Tomb of Dracula series. All three had been touched by vampirism, and fought back against the undead. This premise should have made for a sure-fire hit, but instead the book was canceled, with Drake and King returning to obscurity. Blade, on the other hand, would star in a successful solo film a few years later.

2

The Guardians of the Galaxy Keep Marvel’s Cosmos Safe

First Assembled: Annihilation: Conquest #6 (2008)

While not the first team to call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy, this incarnation may be the best known, thanks in large part to a trilogy of feature films set in the MCU. The first Guardians squad operated in the distant future, but the second, led by Star-Lord, works in the present day, and consists of heavy-hitters culled from the cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe. The team has grown over the years, with nearly every space-based hero at Marvel, and a few Earthbound ones too, as members.

What makes the second version of the Guardians so great is that it took characters that were either written off, such as Star-Lord or Groot, or viewed 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 concept. It has proven to have legs as well, with several volumes of the book having been published.

1

Omega Flight Was Intended to be the Last Word on Alpha Flight–But It Was Not

First Assembled: Omega Flight #1 (2007)

The Civil War event altered the face of superheroes in Marvel’s America, and it even spread to Canada in Omega Flight. A spin-off of Alpha Flight, the beloved Canadian team, there have actually been several versions of the team over the years, some of which consisted of villains. This particular Omega Flight was formed in Civil War’s aftermath, and was a mixture of American and Canadian heroes, including the USAgent and Sasquatch. Omega Flight was, at the time of its publication, intended to be the final form of Alpha Flight.

When Omega Flight finally appeared, it failed to make any kind of impact. The scheduling conflicts that arose around Civil War curbed some of the plans for Omega Flight, but the book was still a dud. There have since been other incarnations of Alpha Flight, and the members of the post-Civil War Omega Flight never talk about their time with the team, making them one of Marvel’s most forgettable super-teams.

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