Marvel currently has an overabundance of Avengers. And why shouldn’t they? In a matter of weeks last Summer, The Avengers movie became the third highest grossing film of all time! It’s only common sense that they would want to pump up the number of Avengers comics they’re putting out. But in doing so they have created an overlap problem. There are too many Avengers.

And the series Uncanny Avengers – which was billed as the flagship series of the new Marvel NOW! campaign – has instead become the red-headed step-child of the Avengers line. And it’s all Captain America’s fault.

He knows what he did

Let me first say that this is not a knock against writer Rick Remender or artist John Cassady. They’re both great creators and they’re putting out a fine, solid comic book with Uncanny Avengers. The problem is that they’ve been completely screwed over by the larger Marvel machine, and Captain America in particular. The guy is a total asshole.

Allow me to explain after the jump.

There currently eight comics being published with the name ‘Avengers’ in the title: Avengers, Avengers Arena, Avengers Assemble, Dark Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Uncanny Avengers and Young Avengers. 

Right away, we can ignore five of those because they don’t have anything to do with the actual Avengers team, they’re just milking the brand name. And there’s nothing wrong with that. By all means, Marvel wants to make money.

This brings us down to three comics that are actually about the team: Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Avengers Assemble by Brian Michael Bendis and Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender.

Here are there lineups:

Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Spider Woman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Falcon, Hyperion, Smasher, Captain Universe, Cannonball, Sunspot, Manifold and Shang-Chi.

Avengers Assemble: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain Marvel and Spider Woman.

Uncanny Avengers: Havok, Captain America, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Rogue, Sunfire, Wonder Man and Wasp.

As you can see, there is some overlap. And it should be noted that Avengers Assemble is a new series that primarily features the team lineup from the movie. It doesn’t have anything to do with the movie, it just stars the same characters. The title was started by writer Brian Michael Bendis, then DeConnick took over and added a few more characters from the comics.

So my question is, which of those lineups is the main Avengers team? Because from the comics I have been reading, it does not appear that Marvel has an actual answer.

Bendis is now writing the two main X-Men comics: All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. And the Avengers have made guest appearances in both of those comics. For those appearances, Bendis uses the lineup from Avengers Assemble.

However, the Avengers have also made guest appearances in both Cable and X-Force, by writer Dennis Hopeless, and Young Avengers, by writer Kieron Gillen. And in both of those comics, it was the Uncanny Avengers lineup that appeared.

And both lineups feature Captain America.

So which is it, Cap? When you’re stepping out on the town with the Avengers, which team do you consider the real team? And how do you decide which team to take with you?

Well to get the answer, and to understand why Captain America is a jerk, you’ve got to look at the stories.

Last year was the big event Avengers vs. X-Men, where the two famous teams came to blows. In the end, Captain America and the Avengers came out as the clear winners. However, Cap realized that he and the Avengers had never really done enough to help the X-Men or mutants in general. So in the wake of the big battle, Cap decided to form a new Avengers team composed of heroes from both the Avengers and the X-Men. And he reached out the X-Man Havok to be leader of this team. Havok was a little hesitant at first, especially since Cap was still going to be on the team, but Havok accepted  and the new Uncanny Avengers was born.

A real winners squad

If this were the only Avengers team, it would be perfect. Everybody learned a lesson, everybody is working together. It looks good.

However, even though he put Havok in charge of the Uncanny Avengers, Captain America clearly had no intention of stepping down as overall leader of the Avengers. No sooner did he set up Havok’s team than Cap put together his own team based on the movie lineup. Havok can have heroes like Rogue, Wonder Man and the Scarlet Witch, Cap is going to have Iron Man, Black Widow and the Hulk on his team. That’s the team you see in Avengers Assemble.

But even that wasn’t enough for Captain America, which brings us to Avengers by Jonathan Hickman. The premise behind this series is that Captain America starts with his movie lineup, but he and Iron Man decide to go even bigger. So they recruit a bunch of other superheroes to join them, creating this huge Avengers lineup. The idea is that when a threat becomes too great for the core team to handle, they can call all of these other heroes in for backup. It’s a good plan.

But who’s missing from that Avengers lineup?

Havok and his people.

With the exception of Cap, Thor and Wolverine, no one from Havok’s Uncanny Avengers were invited to join Cap’s larger Avengers lineup.  Why is that? If the idea behind the lineup in Avengers is to have a big team to tackle big threats, why didn’t Cap include the team he put together for Havok? Why even create the Uncanny Avengers if he’s not going to use them as part of the Avengers?

Because Captain America views the Uncanny Avengers as just a quick solution to a PR problem.

Think about it. In the wake of Avengers vs. X-Men, Captain America came out on top, but mutants were a bigger problem than ever before. And they’re a racial problem. So to be magnanimous in his victory, Cap decided to create a new mutant-focused squad of Avengers, and he picked a nice, handsome X-Man to be the leader. Then he let Havok and his pals go off and do their thing while he and the real Avengers got back to proper Avenging.

Cap even goes so far as to call Havok’s team the ‘Unity Squad’, either because he’s terrible at coming up with names, or he wanted to give them the wussiest name imaginable.

“No, no, it’s cool Havok, we’re totally going to let you call yourselves ‘Avengers’, we’re just going to designate your people as the ‘Unity Squad’. It’s not like there are really any other squads. There’s just the Avengers, led by me, and we’ll handle problems both big and small. And then there’s you and the Unity Squad off doing whatever it is you mutants do. Thor and I will check up with you from time to time, but mostly we’re going to be busy with our own Avengers team. You understand.”

Captain America wanted to do something for the X-Men so that they didn’t feel like such losers. So he graciously let them have their own little Avengers squad off to the side, even letting them use the name ‘Avengers’, while he focuses on the real team.

And that is why Captain America is a patronizing jackass. But then if you read the same Avengers vs. X-Men that I did, you already knew this.