The Avengers aren’t always there to save the day–in fact, there have been several world-ending threats that they completely missed out on.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be a bastion of inter-franchise connectivity, but even its Avengers can’t be everywhere at once. Over the course of fifteen years, which have encompassed more than forty different films, series, special presentations, and one-shots, the MCU has developed a sweeping roster of superheroes to make up the Avengers. However, the MCU hasn’t always been able to address the whereabouts of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in every film and series, even those that contain massive threats. As a result, the MCU has included several irritating moments wherein Avengers-level threats went unaddressed by the iconic superhero team, leaving only a handful of heroes to deal with each.
The first movie of the MCU’s Phase 5, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, promises to introduce Kang the Conqueror to the franchise, marking the latest in many Avengers-level threats to arise on Earth-616. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes originally gathered in 2012 in order to stave off an army of invading Chitauri soldiers led by the god of mischief Loki. Since then, the team has reconvened on several occasions, coming together to stop threats like Ultron and the Mad Titan Thanos. Although the Avengers have always managed to save the world from utter destruction, the gaps between their team-ups become increasingly confounding as more and more major threats go without their interference.
The Convergence
Thor: The Dark World introduced the Reality Stone to the MCU, featured an all-out attack on Asgard, and brought about the Convergence, a reality-shattering event that put every dimension at risk of total destruction, and yet only featured one member of the Avengers. Despite the fact that the Avengers had formed only a year prior to the events of The Dark World, only Thor was present to defeat Malekith and stop the Convergence from destroying the Nine Realms, including Earth. Although Agents of SHIELD included a clever epilogue to Thor and Malekith’s Greenwich battle shortly after the film’s release, the Convergence is rarely ever mentioned in the MCU again.
9SHIELD’s Collapse
Captain America: The Winter Soldier revealed that Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD at the highest levels of the organization, leading to a violent battle over the city of Washington D.C. as Hydra launched three helicarriers with the intention of activating Project Insight. Although these events led to major destruction in Washington and were even used as an example of the Avengers’ destructive tendencies in Captain America: Civil War, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were the only two Avengers present during the battle. Despite The Winter Soldier‘s principal characters having easy access to any of the other Avengers, they failed to call any backup, potentially leading to far more destruction and death.
8Hela
In Thor: Ragnarok, it is revealed that Odin had another child before Thor, Hela, the goddess of death. After being released from her imprisonment in Hel, the goddess of death takes over Asgard and declares herself queen, banishing Thor and Loki in the process. Hela’s coup would have had rippling effects throughout the Nine Realms had she not eventually been stopped by her half-brother. Although Thor struggled against Hela, he never called his friends on Earth to assist him in winning back his throne. Instead, Thor strangely opted to only work with people he ran into throughout his journey, a group which, luckily for him, included the Hulk and Valkyrie.
7Mysterio
Spider-Man: Far From Home introduced Mysterio, Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis in the MCU. As Mysterio, Quentin Beck used a legion of drones designed by Tony Stark to create illusions that made him appear to be a superhero. However, his illusions caused real collateral damage, culminating in an attack on London that left severe destruction in its wake. Beck himself labeled his final stand an “Avengers-level threat,” yet the only Avenger to address his schemes was Spider-Man. Even as a major city suffered an attack from thousands of drones designed by Tony Stark himself, the Avengers failed to intervene on London’s behalf only months after their finest hour in the Battle of Earth.
6Ammit
The finale of Moon Knight pitted Khonshu against Ammit in a clash of titans over the city of Cairo. However, despite the two colossal Egyptian gods battling in plain view of the public, the Avengers were never called to address the occurrence. While Moon Knight may escape harsh criticism for leaving other heroes out of its story since none of the characters therein have any connections to the Avengers, it is still difficult to believe that no other superheroes were aware of Ammit’s destruction in Egypt. Moreover, the Avengers would certainly be interested in investigating Moon Knight himself after his debut, which left plenty of dead bodies in its wake.
5Dormammu
Doctor Strange’s fight against Dormammu is iconic in the MCU, as the Sorcerer Supreme traps himself and the ruler of the Dark Dimension in a time loop, dying over and over again in order to protect the universe. While much of this duel occurs in a closed loop, Dormammu did wreak unparalleled destruction on Hong Kong before Strange even showed up, leaving it rather surprising that none of the Avengers showed up. A giant demon in the sky is certainly in the Avengers’ wheelhouse, yet none arrived to lend a hand, likely distracted by their own childish infighting during the events of Captain America: Civil War.
4Ego
Ego is the father of Star-Lord and Mantis in the MCU, as revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, respectively. Unfortunately, Ego also happens to be a Celestial planet with designs to remake the entire universe in his image. While the Guardians’ battle with Ego may have been outside the Avengers’ territory, Ego’s “Expansion” encompassed many different planets, including Earth, where one of his bombs nearly destroyed a small town. While the Guardians of the Galaxy had yet to connect with the Avengers at this time, it would have been nice to see even one Earth-bound hero dealing with Ego’s destruction.
3Celestials
Eternals’ Celestial Tiamut was a major plot hole throughout the entirety of Phase 4, as the characters in the MCU seemed wholly unaware of the 300-mile-tall statue that suddenly appeared in the Indian Ocean. While it is somewhat understandable that the Avengers didn’t show up during the events of the Emergence itself, which comprised a relatively small amount of time, it is difficult to believe that they wouldn’t investigate the situation further once Tiamut appeared. Furthermore, the Avengers certainly should have been alerted when another Celestial, Arishem the Judge, appeared in the sky to pluck his former acolytes off of the planet and take them away into space.
2Scarlet Witch
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness proved that Scarlet Witch is one of Marvel’s strongest Avengers, as she became corrupted by the Darkhold and nearly destroyed the Multiverse itself. The Avengers should have been present when one of their own wrought havoc on Khamer-Taj but were nowhere to be found. Wanda Maximoff’s rampage is perhaps the Avengers’ greatest failing in the MCU, as they allowed one of their most powerful members to become corrupted by the Darkhold and then failed to address the problem after it had arisen. To this day, no Avenger has even mentioned Wanda Maximoff’s downfall, even in regard to the Westview Anomaly a year prior.
1Strange Supreme
Perhaps the strangest instance of the Avengers’ absence stems from alternate realities in the Multiverse. Several realities include evil versions of Doctor Strange, including Strange Supreme from What If…? and Sinister Strange from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In both cases, the Avengers were entirely absent from the evil Strange’s backstory, apparently unaware of his exploits. As Earth-616’s Doctor Strange takes a darker turn after reading the Darkhold, the Avengers must do a better job of addressing his activity than their Multiversal counterparts or risk allowing utter destruction to come across the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a result of their failure.
