The Avengers are the premiere team of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. They have been involved in nearly all the major events. Yet, do they truly live up their name?

What does it mean to avenge someone or something? According to the Merriam-Webster dicitonary, "to take vengeance for or on behalf of; to exact satisfaction for (a wrong) by punishing the wrongdoer."

It was Wasp that came up with the name when trying to think of something colorful and dramatic. Of course Hank would try convincing the others it was the greatest name ever. It doesn't really feel like it fits. Do the Avengers actually avenge anyone?

The Avengers are great heroes. The problem is, they don't necessarily seek out trouble or get vengeance after the villains have harmed others. Usually there is a threat and the Avengers show up to deal with it. The villains are often brought to justice but are those that have been wronged ever avenged?

What about all the bad things Scarlet Witch did?

She practically destroyed the Avengers and almost wiped out the entire mutant race. In the first issue of HOUSE OF M, the Avengers and X-Men met before seeking out Wanda. The Avengers view was to apprehend her. Some of the X-Men were calling for her execution after she caused the death of many mutants after they had been de-powered.

The Avengers aren't about "an eye for an eye." What did they do after the destruction and deaths for Scott Lang, Jack of Hearts, Hawkeye and others? They aren't executioners so they believed the answer would be to find her and bring her to trial. But when was the last time a superhero was put on trial?

Hawkeye, one of Scarlet Witch's victims, was later resurrected and came to terms with what happened. He found Wanda (or so he thought) and realized getting revenge against her wasn't going to solve anything. That still brings up the question of what does an Avenger actually do for those that have been wronged?

In the recent NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #1 and AVENGERS ANNUAL #1, we do finally see the team get a little ticked off and ready for some avenging. Wonder Man tried telling Captain America and Iron Man that they had to stop. The Avengers were causing more harm than good. He demanded they put an end to the team. When they brushed him off, he attacked the Avengers Tower and then later formed a team of Revengers. They attacked and demolished the Avengers Mansion and kicked the Avengers' butt.

For some reason, attacking the Avengers at the mansion and then proceeding to attack Avengers Tower (again), was enough to enrage the team. The Avengers were pissed and, in a sense, did avenge their teammates that were beaten (but no one was killed or seriously harmed).

Should the Avengers change their ways? Should they seek out the villains that have harmed or killed innocents? If they're going to sit around the Avengers Mansion (or whatever headquarters they're using) and wait for a supervillain to launch their scheme, they're not really doing any avenging.

They could change their name. The Defenders seem to have a better idea in defending the innocent. If the Avengers insist on keeping their name, why don't they bring in the likes of the Punisher or Ghost Rider.These guys strongly believe in avenging. Ghost Rider is a spirit of vengeance. Even Moon Knight, who seems to be off the team, believed in vengeance.

The Avengers don't need to go out harming or killing the bad guys but if they are determined to keep their name (they do have a major motion picture coming soon), they need to rethink their strategy. The meaning of avenging is very close to revenge. That's not really what the team has ever been about.

After this, we can move on to the X-Men and how their team name doesn't make sense either.

I agree- the term was with benefit of hindsight(or even at the time) far TOO bloodthirsty for my liking. The Fantastic Four, the Defenders, X-Men, or even Alpha Flight, Big Hero 6 or the Winter Guard sounds much better( incidentally, the "X" in X_Men stands for the not just "Xavier", the team's founder and mentor but "X_tra" power)

Terry

The creator probably choose the name because it sounds grabbing? This is just like how the Simpsons are yellow, they grab people who are channel surfing because they are intrigued by their color

I do believe Bucky Barnes was the last Super Hero to be put on trial but I get what you're saying. :p

@Paracelsus said:

I agree- the term was with benefit of hindsight(or even at the time) far TOO bloodthirsty for my liking. The Fantastic Four, the Defenders, X-Men, or even Alpha Flight, Big Hero 6 or the Winter Guard sounds much better( incidentally, the "X" in X_Men stands for the not just "Xavier", the team's founder and mentor but "X_tra" power)

Terry

Maybe it's just me but I think Invaders is worse then Avengers.

They avenged Wonder Man. Twice.

...Ungrateful ass.

Do the Avengers actually avenge anyone?

Jack of Hearts (but some years ago, in 2004)

Invaders is definitely pretty bad. It makes them sound like a bunch of rapists.

They don't avenge anyone.They chose that name because it grabs people to buy the book.

avengers annual one was the only im ive seen them avenge someone. and it was epic there more like Defenders or Warriors tbh

I agree. Their strategy don't match their name.

Even the x-men are not all men. So it doesn't really matter. Even Justice League of America don't just help the americans. Not all of the Justice League members are americans.

Depends on the story. You could make an argument that every time they put down Kang, they are avenging the death of the Swordsman. Every time they take out one of the Masters of Evil, they are avenging the assault on Jarvis. It really depends on the context you place an individual adventure in. There are lots of Avengers stories where civilians die, & the team comes in and resolves the situation. Just because they don't state up front, at the beginning of every adventure that they're avenging "this guy" or "that person" doesn't mean that their name doesn't ring true.

hehe, can you imagine the names they were throwing around back in the 60's trying to come up with something that sounded really cool. :)

They did pick a good one, although yea, it's relevance to the feel of the team has been practically non-existent.

It's like a band name though, it doesn't have to make sense for them to make kick ass tunes :)

@Paracelsus said:

I agree- the term was with benefit of hindsight(or even at the time) far TOO bloodthirsty for my liking. The Fantastic Four, the Defenders, X-Men, or even Alpha Flight, Big Hero 6 or the Winter Guard sounds much better( incidentally, the "X" in X_Men stands for the not just "Xavier", the team's founder and mentor but "X_tra" power)

Terry

Maybe it's just me but I think Invaders is worse then Avengers.

@Dernman said: 

Maybe it's just me but I think Invaders is worse then Avengers.

Well they were invading Germany so it at least has some relevance  

The name was chosen just for effect back in the day (sounds bad-ass). Their purpose isn't to exact revenge upon anyone. When they actually became a little darker in their approach a couple of years back there were complaints that the character of the team was being altered. It really depends on the writers and the general direction Marvel wants the team to take (the Ultimates are more "avengefull").

@jhazzroucher said:

Even the x-men are not all men. So it doesn't really matter. Even Justice League of America don't just help the americans. Not all of the Justice League members are americans.

To be fair the book is just called Justice League now, even tho the guy at my comics store still calls it JLA for some reason and we don't even live in America haha. but i agree with you, X-People certainly isn't as grabbing. Maybe the Avengers should just be a little more pro-active from now on, like Hal Jordan's Justice League.

yes they shozkd get a new strategy to defeat villains. they really should get more emotions in their fights. avenge teammates. that would get me back into avengers books!

This just seems like one of those problems they fixed in the Ultimate universe. They are the Ultimate superheroes, the most powerful and noble, the name Ultimates fits perfectly. Also in the ultimate universe Avengers are a black-ops team of killers out for vengeance (the Punisher, Black Widow, a darker version of Hawkeye, Ghost Rider, Blade).

Check out Galactic Storm! Iron Man and Cap argue about whether they should avenge the kree by destroying the giant brain thing that caused all the trouble (can't remember the name of it). This causes the team to split. Thats the first time I realized that the Avengers are actually very reluctant to avenge anyone.

Even though a whole species was whiped out... and the enemy was not really a living being IMO...

I think Jan came up with the idea of The Avengers because they all worked together to capture Loki and (here's the stretch of logic) avenge what he had done to each of the members, most notably The Hulk and Thor. I don't know that I've read much of The Avengers avenging the average person. I would think The Avengers, like most teams, are basically protectors.

In Avengers: The Origin, it made more sense why they were called The Avengers.

Familiarity with the team aside, avengers sound like a gang.. Vendetta! Vendetta!

Avenging is overrated, besides that would make them villains if they always avenged.

If Marvel did a relaunch they'd just be called the "Ultimates" anyway. Although I'd prefer the names "Champions" or "Defenders" more than "Invaders" or "Avengers."

As for X-Men, what's the problem? Cause they're not all men? Doesn't make much sense as a complaint to me. English is a pile of junk but hey it's what it is. The X just stands for Xavier, right? Still I suppose you could just use their original name, "Doom Patrol."

If I recall correctly,The Wasp had thought of the name because she and Giant Man had become superheroes in order to avenge the death of her father. Through a strange set of events, they met the other Avengers and teamed up. The Avengers would seem to have more to do with The Wasps' motivations then a core mission for the team. Also, The Avengers often are called in after an attack has begun, so they often avenge the victims and casualties of an initial attack. But, yeah, the name is a stretch.

I also thought the Avengers name was just a name.

He found Wanda (or so he thought) and realized getting revenge against her wasn't going to solve anything.

This is one of the reasons why I rarely read comic books. If you are going to have dangerous criminals you should have "heroes" that are willing to put an end to that danger.

How many times do Spiderman's enemies or Batman's enemies have to threaten, attack, and kill innocent people before the heroes realize they must be put down? Clearly Joker is not going to stop murdering people so...you might want squash that problem. At this rate, Batman would have a much better time being a cop. At least then he would be able to legally kill criminals threatening to kill others, and not worry about the cops hating him for some reason.

At this point, the name has no meaning but "The popular characters of the Marvel U." I mean, they don't even have a unique atmosphere or moto anymore.

...wished Songbird would join already...

good stuff, i thought it was funny when wolverine touched on this during civil war

Avangers of justice, of hope, and all that

I thought it was canon that they chose the name just because it sounds cool...

How does "X-Men" not make sense? The gene which makes mutants is called the X-gene or, more commonly, the X comes from Xavier who founded the X-Men, and if you're thinking it doesn't make sense because there are women on the team the term men is in women, so it is a general term. And X-Men is far better than X-People or X-Gang.

This is the only team comic I really enjoy.

@Lurkero: This made me laugh at loud. I'm sure your feelings are shared by many at some point and time. I really liked the cop part, though.

Nice article. I've always thought the name was a bad choice but it's comics and they're heroes so I just left it alone. :)

Its just good marketing on the wasps part.., like apple don't make apples, windows don't make windows, Giantbomb have never made any explosives, comic vine doesn't have any real vines and the avengers don't avenge, like if I hadn't ever heard of any superhero team and someone was like do you want to join the justice league, or the avengers? Id be like Avengers.. Justice league is a terrible name, sure it says what they're all about, but its a PR nightmare, no one is gonna frak with a team called the avengers... that been said the team has it fair share of douches and I would personally prefer to be on the x-men... so if your reading this Cyclops... just sayin

@ozeol: the kree giant brain is called the Supreme Intelligence

Yay I know something!

Avenging does imply a bit more violence than the team actually dishes , so no, I don't believe the term "Avengers" to be necessarily appropriate to the team and their function. If anything its mostly just a formality nowadays since the term will have been in the modern comics lexicon for almost 50 years now. But no, RARELY have the Avengers ever really avenged anyone or anything.

if anything, the Defenders is more appropriate since they constantly defend the Earth from threats...but that name is taken 
 
personally i'm glad they don't avenge anything, to me, vengeance is one of the worst, if not THE worst motivators for a hero to be driven by. And that x men scan made me hate Emma Frost even more..which i didn't even think was possible 

My thoughts exactly!!!! I totally agree with the second part: They should change their name. Avengers simply doesn't sound logical. Marvel, are you listening?

Admittedly the team doesn't do much avenging so to speak but the Avengers is a cool sounding name for the team. Plus the battle cry 'Avengers Assemble' is literally one of the best call to arms ever. I would say it in a speech if I were rallying people for a battle or a war. What better way to inspire hope than to shout the cry of Marvel's greatest superhero team?

@moywar700: The simpsons are Yellow because of a joke, 20 some odd years ago, before they had thier own show, Matt Groening had the simpsons yellow because he wanted to fool people into messing with the color on there tvs so when it went to commerical they would have to adjust it back again. if you remember the way fox was 25 years, it was kind of a joke.

Avengers, it's a silly group, i mean, it's almost all guys, i mean look at all star teams, In baseball, or basket ball. the best of the best, it's going to end up who's stronger, or faster, and then who's going to want to be leader?

Avenging is good for once in a while, But what about all time?? of all the comics that get cancelled(ultimate FF) i do not know how this one stays.

@Rasarima said:

Avegers of justice, of hope, and all that

this

I will add that the best Avengers books that I have read were the ones where they got the frak kicked out of them and then went on the offensive to avenge/retaliate against their enemy. To avenge doesn't necessarily mean to kill...it means to bring about an outcome of satisfaction through retaliation/vengeance. So, by that definition, that is exactly what the Avengers do, they retaliate with force to a level that produces an outcome they deem satisfactory. 'Nuff said!

That's the question of my life, Why they are called the "avengers"? Vengeance is not always the best way to do justice. And that's what drive me to DC (I started with cartoons), they looked sound more friendly:

Justice League, it sounds like a baseball team but sounds nicer not sooo aggressive and mean, thing that was a big influence for me when kid. Crazy but yes, a bad name drive me away from Marvel

veeeeeeerrrryyyy good point!

I've never thought that the Avengers actually avenged anything really. 
 
I just though that it sound cool so they went with it.

Eh,it was just a catchy name, i mean Avengers does sound pretty good, but they react more than anything it seems. I feel like the X-Men do more avenging or at least more proactive in their approach