Superheroes are often complex characters.
Many of our comic book favourites, especially those created in the Silver Age and onwards,
have flaws that can sometimes result in them not saving the day after all, or floundering
in battle when facing a particular conflict they aren’t equipped for.
Not everyone can be as OP as Superman, after all.
And it’s one of the many reasons we adore them.
So today, we’re taking a look at one specific superhero group and the things that give them
trouble in their crime fighting careers, with our list of the top 10 Strongest Avenger Weaknesses.
Not all of these weaknesses are tangible; some pertain to character’s personality
traits, flaws, and even their mental health.
But before we begin, we’ve got some exciting news for you folks!
We’ve got a giveaway!
Woo!
We’ve paired up with Disney to giveaway copies of their live action Dumbo blu-ray
and DVD.
Which, by the way, if you haven’t seen it, is a fantastic adaptation of the original
cartoon classic, directed by Tim Burton featuring an all star cast and a live action Dumbo that
will make your heart absolutely melt.
Can you tell that I loved it?
I really loved it.
Dumbo comes out tomorrow, June 25th, so get hyped my friends!
It’s also got a ton of features, including commentary from cast members like Michael
Keaton, Eva Green, Clin Farrell, Danny DeVito and more sharing their stories on set, and
their own personal stories of courage and character.
To enter, be sure to head on over to our instagram page @top10nerdofficial, follow us, like the
contest picture and tag two of your best buds who also wouldn’t mind getting their mitts
on this awesome giveaway.
Once we’ve chosen the winners, we’ll contact you with all of the deets on how to claim
your prize.
So what are you waiting for??
Get on over there now while you watch this video to enter!
And of course, huge thank you to Disney for sponsoring this video!
10 Thor Starting off our list with the Asgardian God
of Thunder, let’s take a look at the OG Avenger’s weaknesses in both the comics
and the MCU.
In Avengers Endgame (spoiler warning friends), we got to see a different side to Thor; one
that was wildly insecure.
As a result of not being able to kill Thanos and retrieve the gauntlet after the mad titan
had initially snapped in Avengers Infinity War, Thor carried around a ton of guilt, even
after he decapitated the villain at the start of Endgame after it was revealed he had wished
the stones out of existence.
In the five year gap that followed, Thor became a recluse, hiding out in New Asgardian, drinking
large quantities of beer and putting on a ton of weight.
Actor Chris Hemsworth donned a fat suit for the majority of the film.
Thor eventually got over his insecurities after the Avengers succeeded in re-setting
the snap, and majorly stepped up with the 2014 timeline Thanos appeared on Earth to
get the stones once and for all.
So MCU Thor’s weakness?
His insecurities.
Fat Thor also got some backlash for being the butt of a joke rather than an obvious
cry for help; a hero struggling with his mental health and enduring some serious body shaming
throughout.
But perhaps his weakness in the comics is even better when it comes to comic relief,
since it clearly wasn’t intended to be as such.
In the early days, Thor’s Mjolnir was depicted in almost a phallic way, and he’d flaunt
that hammer like there was no tomorrow.
It was often tied exclusively to his powers, and if he’d ever let go of his hammer, something
unfortunate would occur; if he let go of it for more than 60 seconds, he would return
to his secret identity of Donald Blake, rendering him powerless.
Enemies like Loki would go out of their way to ensure that when Thor threw his hammer,
it wouldn’t be able to return to him.
This weakness eventually got revised thanks to some mystical magic, but for a while, it
was a complete nuisance for the god.
9 Hulk The Hulk is arguably the most OP Avenger.
Literally, the angrier he gets, the more impossible it is to defeat him.
He just grows stronger and stronger, more invulnerable the more pissed off he gets.
He can even withstand amounts of nuclear radiation that can wipe out the whole damn planet.
But, in some cases, we have seen the Hulk be vulnerable; the MCU version of the hero
has really done a fantastic job at establishing that delicate balance.
The comics have their moments too, including this fun little panel in which we see one
of the Hulk’s most perplexing but relatable weaknesses; puppies.
Seriously.
His fellow heroes unleash a ton of puppies on the big green monster and he chills out
immediately.
Nothing like man’s best friend to turn Bruce Banner into a gentle giant.
Thank god he’s not allergic.
8 Hank Pym Hank Pym is a man of many mantles.
Initially debuting as Ant-Man, he’s donned the alias of Giant Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket
over the years, to name a few.
But one of his most consistent and memorable traits is his struggle with his mental health,
which has often been the catalyst in major events in the comics such as the introduction
to Ultron.
While mental health struggles should not be seen as a weakness, when you’re an incredibly
powerful superhero with the kinds of responsibilities the Avengers have, admitting you need help
sometimes is absolutely essential, and that's something that Hank’s earlier writers rarely
explored.
In the comics, Ultron is Hank’s creation, and the sentient robot ends up wiping his
memory, only for Hank to later discover he was responsible, triggering one of his mental
breakdowns.
His instability caused him to lash out at his wife Janet in one of the most controversial
moments in comic history, in which Hank beat her after being kicked out of the Avengers
for irrationally attacking a foe who had surrendered.
He then suffered from schizophrenia, taking on the Yellowjacket mantle and a whole new
personality.
And when he went to work for the West Coast Avengers as a scientific advisor, he ended
up almost committing suicide over how depressed and guilty he felt about all of his prior
actions.
Dude has been through hell and back, really.
And his history is the perfect example of how the responsibilities of being a superhero
can really take a toll on a character’s mental health, ultimately resulting in some
really chaotic events.
7 Wonder Man Wonder Man is a member of the Avengers that
we haven’t seen up on the big screen yet, but has proven to be quite powerful in the
comics.
He’s immortal, and the full extent of his power is still unknown.
But, similarly to Hank Pym, Wonder Man aka Simon Williams is often victimized by his
mental health, and has also suffered from full blown mental breakdowns in the past.
It even gets to the point where Wonder Man becomes a pacifist in Uncanny Avengers, refusing
to fight altogether.
6 Vision While Vision in the MCU seems pretty infallible
at times (although has shown to be susceptible to electric and magical attacks), the Vision
of the Marvel comics has had it a bit rougher at times.
The MCU powered the Ultron creation via the Soul Stone, whereas in the comics, he’s
just a highly advanced sentient robot.
Initially, every time he’s destroyed, he can be rebuilt.
So despite his robotic weakness, at least that has a silver lining.
More interestingly though, Vision in the comics is often held back by his pursuit of being
human.
He can also fall victim to rigidity.
Because he can increase his density, it takes a lot of energy to move his muscles and maintain
being that intangible, and at his maximum density of 90 tons, he becomes immovable,
immobilized in place until he reduces his density back.
5 Spider-Man Peter Parker’s flaws and incredibly realistic
personality traits is one of the reasons why the web slinger has resonated so well with
readers all across the globe.
It’s one of the reasons why he’s considered to be Marvel’s most popular and beloved
hero of all time.
And, without getting into the complexities of his character, his super powered abilities
also have flaws, something that always felt like a really nice touch.
We’re talking Peter’s spider sense; a precognitive ability that allows him to sense
things that others can’t, a tingling in the back of his skull that allows him to detect
danger before it occurs.
This sense has been proven fallible though; there’s been cases where spider-Man’s
sense hasn’t worked thanks to a common cold, gas attacks, over stimulation or because a
foe like the symbiote Venom doesn’t activate said sense.
4 Iron Man Tony Stark may be a literal genius capable
of the most impressive scientific feats, but thanks to his personality, he’s hit a few
road bumps in both the comics and the MCU.
But specifically in the comics, one of those biggest hitches came in Iron Man issue 120
in the story Demon in a Bottle, which had Tony facing off against an antagonist he didn’t
know how to handle; alcoholism.
Often, his biggest obstacle is himself.
This even made its way into the MCU, with Iron Man writer Matt Fraction saying of the
character, I quote, “He has a big gaping hole in his chest that he has to keep shoving
things into.
You don’t need a road map and a flashlight to figure out the symbolism there.”
3 Captain America Captain America may be the Avengers’ leader
and often has an impenetrable spirit, but at the end of the day, he’s one of the only
main Avengers who lacks something; he’s human.
Sure, thanks to the super soldier serum, he has superhuman strength, agility, durability,
stamina and endurance, but compared to the likes of an Asgardian god, an irradiated hulking
monster with unlimited strength and a dude in a robotic suit that can seemingly do anything
at times, Cap looks pretty pale in comparison.
It’s not just his physical abilities that make him weaker than a solid chunk of the
team though.
Steve Rogers has often been the target of manipulation.
The character sometimes has a naivety that villains have taken advantage of.
He really wants to see the good in everyone, and trust that human beings are inherently
good.
But that’s backfired on him multiple times.
And in cases like Secret Empire, where an alternate timeline Steve Rogers is manipulated
into being a sleeper HYDRA agent, that kind of susceptibility can be a real danger.
2 Sentry Sentry has often been compared to DC’s Superman.
After all, he is a character with the power of a million exploding suns.
When we first met Robert Reynolds, it was long after the Avengers and the Marvel multiverse
had been established.
Reynolds was a man who woke up one day and remembered that he was the superhero Sentry;
a narrative that would retcon a whole lot to explain why the entire Marvel 616 universe
had forgotten his existence.
Turns out that the all powerful Sentry actually has an alter ego within him, a repressed side
that’s evil known as the Void.
In order to keep the Void at bay, Sentry worked with Reed richards of the Fantastic Four,
among others, to wipe Sentry from everyone’s memories in order to keep the earth safe from
Void, with Reynolds living as a regular mortal up until his memory comes back.
Now, Sentry is constantly trying to keep the Void at bay; Void has all the same abilities
as Sentry does, meaning whenever Sentry slips up, the heroes of the Marvel universe have
a whole lot of trouble on their hands.
1 Scarlet Witch Scarlet Witch is arguably one of the most
powerful Avengers, let alone heroes, in the Marvel Universe.
She manipulates something called chaos magic which allows her to alter reality at her will.
But here’s the kicker.
In both the MCU and the comics, Wanda has had trouble controlling her powers.
The MCU version, played by Elizabeth Olson, struggles to control her abilities, which
was a catalyst in Captain America Civil War when she was unable to manage her powers and
caused the Lagos catastrophe, in which her attempt to prevent an explosion from Crossbone’s
suicide vest from killing Captain America ended up destroying near by buildings and
killing innocent bystanders.
In that case, Wanda’s weaknesses can be chopped up to inexperience and insecurities.
But in the comics, it’s slightly different; the character has struggled with her mental
stability, which triggered events like the House of M event.
She removed every single mutant’s powers on earth with her reality altering abilities
by saying the words “no more mutants”.
And in The Avengers 503, she was convinced the superhero team were trying to take her
children away from her (her children turned out to be constructs of her own mind, unfortunately),
so she lost it and erased a handful of them from reality.
She’s struggled with depression and even severe suicidal thoughts at one point in time.
Once again, mental health issues are not a weakness, but it’s easy to see why Wanda
having good mental health is a necessity in the Marvel universe.
There we have it friends!
And before we go, once again, major thank you to Disney for sponsoring this video!
Dumbo comes out tomorrow, June 25th, so be sure to hop on over to our instagram and enter
our contest now!