The Superior Avengers Mark a Turning Point for Marvel, And the MCU Should Take Note

[[{“value”:”

As Marvel Comics gears toward a global takeover at the hands of Doctor Doom
, his new twisted version of the The Avengers
threatens to succeed where many have failed before. The Superior Avengers aren’t the first “villain-turned-hero” team to copy themselves after the Avengers. From Secret Empire to Dark Reign, Marvel has perfected creating villainous teams that sinisterly mimic the World’s Greatest Heroes. This is something the MCU desperately needs.

As announced by Marvel Comics, Superior Avengers – written by Steve Foxe, with art by Luca Maresca – will tie into the massive One World Under Doom crossover event, as the eponymous antagonist debuts his own ominous new team, with some of Marvel’s greatest villains, now operating as the Avengers.

However, these villains are far from the first to have stolen the Avengers’ moniker. While it may be a repeated trope, it’s admittedly one of Marvel’s most entertaining. Hopefully, the MCU has taken notes as Marvel Studios prepares for its own Doom takeover in Avengers: Doomsday.

Doctor Doom Debuts His Own Evil Version Of The Avengers, But They Aren’t Marvel’s First

These Teams Come From Similar Origins

Marvel has been featured numerous villainous Avengers teams, although the two most significant teams are
Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers
, during the Dark Reign event, and Hydra’s Avengers, during the Secret Empire event. In both instances, as with the Superior Avengers, the Marvel Universe had all but recently collapsed under the cataclysmic weight of Marvel’s apocalyptic events. With the country or world having freshly fallen apart, blame is placed on the previous politicians and heroes who had failed to prevent or contain the calamity.

In the void of power left behind, traditional villains arise with promises to save humanity where the heroes have failed. With thunderous applause from the public or the lack of means to stop the historical criminals, the villains take charge and impose their iron will upon their new subjects. Promises of prosperity sour into threats of control and censorship. Governments become overtly corrupt and self-serving. And
what remains of the Avengers
, the world’s paragons of justice and hope, are removed and reorganized to create a team that better reflects the new villainous governing body.

The Avengers’ Corruption Feels Realistic Yet Fictionalized

The Villains Are A Reflection Of The State

These stories are especially engrossing because of how eerily similar their themes feel to the real world. Our world lacks superheroes and villains, but it isn’t new to corruption.
Norman Osborn or Hydra
are realistic, yet still fictionalized, versions of what a sudden autocracy looks like. But the dark twisting of the Avengers, these stylistic caricatures of humanity’s greatest attributes and aspirations, helps deliver a more expressive and exaggerated representation of corruption, especially from fascist parties. Both Osborn and Hydra ruled the United States with absolute and oppressive authority, with the Avengers now serving as the institution’s state-sponsored police force.

To
infiltrate the Avengers
with violent and murderous villains, undermines the fictional and literal hope the heroic organization once stood for. As these themes often feel more familiar than we would like, Marvel’s willingness to explore the concepts carries a significantly more emotionally impactful experience for readers who find hope in the heroes’ fight to overcome the oppressive regimes. While Marvel Comics has a longer history of telling these kinds of stories, Marvel Studios has already set a similar thematic precedent.

The MCU Has An Established Precedent For Its Own “Dark Avengers” Story

The Thunderbolts Don’t Necessarily Count

Captain America: Winter Soldier tells a story about a governmental authority falling underneath a traitorous fascist regime, while the heroes assemble an underground resistance network. The tone is eerie and cold, cementing the film’s unnerving dystopian feel. Now, over a decade later,
Captain America: Brave New World
offers a new story of internal corruption and the continued struggle to live up to one’s truly heroic predecessors. The MCU has already established this comic book trope and is continuing to lean into it. However, it’s worth noting that teams like the Thunderbolts don’t fall under this thematic category.

The Thunderbolts
, in its ideal state, are designed to be a rehabilitation program for supervillains, criminals, and the morally gray to find a second chance. The modern Thunderbolts, like the ones featured in the MCU’s Thunderbolts* film, don’t pretend to be villains. They know they have done awful things but own up to their past to seek redemption in the future. However, the likes of the Superior Avengers are hypocritical frauds who defile what their namesake stands for. It’s a cheap play by the villains who want to feel admiration despite their secret wrongdoings.

Doctor Doom’s Avengers Team Represents True Evil

Nothing Will be Held Sacred by the Superior Avengers

The Superior Avengers are only one of a collection of bastardized versions of the Avengers. This collection of Marvel’s most violent and unhinged villains inherently undermines the practical and symbolic purpose of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. As the threat of
Doctor Doom’s world takeover
approaches, the world will face a version of the Avengers never seen before. Again, in the face of global tragedy, an empirical fascist has now found the means to seize control. Doctor Doom’s Superior Avengers will tear down every pillar their predecessors held sacred when Superior Avengers #1 debuts later this year.

Source: Marvel Comics

Superior Avengers #1 will be available April 16, 2025 from Marvel Comics.

“}]] The Avengers are supposed to be a sacred team.  Read More