13 Avengers you didnt realize were in the Marvel Movie Universe.

So if I were to ask you how many Avengers exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, you'd likely tell me 14. Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Falcon, War Machine, Ant Man (Lang), and arguably Black Panther and Spider Man.

Except....here's the thing you'd be wrong....in fact you've only covered about half the list.

Marvel literally has more avengers than it knows what to do with, to the point it has given cameo or lower level roles to almost as many avengers as have been in the movies. So here's the list of avengers you probably missed from the MCU, all of whom (except our first entry) will likely never actually be on the team in the MCU.


1) Dr. Strange

Ok so i realize this one seems a little strange (no pun intended) given that he has a movie coming out in a few months.....but here's the part you probably didnt realize....that movie IS NOT the characters debut. Back in Captain America Winter Soldier, when Cap/Widow/Falcon are interrogating Hydra agent Jasper Sitwell and as he names people who might be a threat to Hydra one of the folks he names is Steven Strange. Plus hell youd be forgiven for not realizing his comic book counter part was an avenger, as he didnt do much and is much more famous as the leader of the defenders

Anyways that early mention may wind up being something totally ignored in the movie but if its not....talk about foreshadowing.....

2) Hank Pym AKA Ant Man/Giant Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket/Wasp/Ultron

Well established in the movie universe as the original ant-man, operating in the 1950's-1970's....in the comics Hank Pym founded the avengers. Also created Ultron, and was married (as his on screen counter part is) to Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp.  And his daughter is/will soon be the new wasp. Though in the movies his daughter was with Janet, in the comics his daughter is from a previous marriage.

Also as in the comics Hank Pym is currently ultron, I suppose we could count Ultrons appearance in Avengers 2 as another appearance of the guy :P.


3) Janet van Dyne AKA Wasp

Speaking of the wasp.....in the comics, she was actually the one who named the team, and was one of the teams founders (along side Pym, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man). She's also considered one of the best leaders the team has ever had.....too bad her on screen counterpart was killed off in a flashback...but at least her MCU daughter might do her proud...prouder than her comic book versions daughter from an alternate reality Hope Pym who was actually the evil Red Queen and tried to kill the future avengers only to be stopped by her brother Henry Jr.

Though her main reality version was also a mom, having given birth to Kate Summers (fathered by Havok) in an alternate timeline but a timeline whos memories are imprinted on Van Dyne....including when Kate was erased from existence.


4) Jessica Jones AKA Jewel

Thats right, the Netflix only Marvel show for people who kinda like but dont love the avengers/superhero action thing, instead opting for a more character and psychologically driven angle stars an avenger.

Granted Jones is a low profile avenger, as her status on the team could be considered debatable....she spent most of her stint on the team trying to leave it, usually skipping fights to protect her infant daughter, and had she managed to convince her baby-daddy turned husband to go with her, shed have been gone in a heart beat.  So she didnt exactly contribute much to the team when she was there.

By the way, who was her husband? glad you asked....

5) Luke Cage

This really shouldnt be a surprise to fans of the show, since they did go down the whole romance angle there too albeit to a different end.

Anyways unlike his wife, Cage is a major player in the avengers, he's one of the few avengers to lead more than one version of the team (having led the New and Mighty Avengers) and was basically leading the team for near a decade....in fact the only people who can touch his record length wise are Hawkeye and Captain America.

6) Hellcat AKA Trisha/Patsy Walker

You know, for a show thats not really supposed to be about superheros, Jessica Jones has a fuck ton of avengers running around....including Best Friend/adopted sister Patrica Walker....who in the comics is known as Hellcat and actually has no real relation to Jones. In fact outside of a single issue, Im not even sure they ever met. In fact in some respects the MCU version of Jones co-opted Hellcats backstory, as that is closer to the childhood given to both of them than Jones' comic book backstory.

Anyways in the comics, to be honest, Hellcat never really played that big a role on the team....hell she only became a superhero when Captain America gave her a costume he found laying around to provide a distraction. She did however go on to be one of the major focuses of the Defenders.....who also have a series coming to Netflix.....

7) Daredevil

Another "brief stint" member of the Avengers, Daredevil turned down membership for decades, and only accepted when Luke Cage took over the team....but as that team disbanded shortly after, that ended Daredevils stint with the team.

So the MCU version of him doing his own thing is actually pretty true to form. In fact of all the Avengers on this list, he's probably the closest to his comic book persona.

8) Red Hulk AKA Thaddeus Ross

All I have to say about this one, Thaddeus Ross, chief pain in the ass for the Hulk, and who also appears in Civil War, in the comics underwent an experiment to try to out hulk the hulk and became Red Hulk....and went on to have a particularly unoutstanding nonsensical (as he was a villain) stint as an avenger.

By the way, if your noticing a theme of not mattering much, blame Brian Michael Bendis and his horrible habit of handing out Avengers memberships like candy, with no plan or character arc for the characters, and for no plot based reason, and winding up with teams so big (10-12 members each) he couldnt even be bothered to give many of them lines of dialogue for issues at a time. In fact, Bendis is responsible for half this list being avengers in the first place (Dr, Strange, Red Hulk, Daredevil,  Jones and Cage and two more yet to come)....and yet despite that only 1 of them (cage) mattered to the team at all.

9) Human Torch

So I kinda covered this one in my last blog...but since that had spoilers and this doesnt its worth recapping here.  Basically the picture of him is from his unnamed cameo appearance in the 1940's in the first captain america movie.

In the comics he was first the original body of the vision, before being resurrected as himself and joining the team in his own right. He would rejoin years later as a member of the secret avengers and helped the team destroy the Descendants, an entire race of beings created from the same work that created him....but all twisted and evil.

10) Amadeus Cho

Technically this one counts as a double kinda cameo. The pic above comes from his unnamed cameo appearance in the Incredible Hulk...and thats basically the extent of it as far as what he did. However its also worth noting that in the comics, his mothers name was Helen Cho...the same name used by the doctor who creates Vision in the second Avengers film.

Now as far as his stint on the team in the comics....it was kinda underwhelming, in keeping with his status as a Bendis addition. See at the time his only power was that he was really really smart...in fact he was the 8th smartest person in the world....which sounds like a good deal, except one of the guys smarter than him was Hank Pym, the avengers leader at that point. Basically he was only even on the team in the first place as he was tagging along as Hercules' sidekick....

Though his profile has gone up considerably since then....in fact at the moment in the comics, he and not Bruce Banner, is the Hulk. (who knows maybe they can make that Hulk sequel after all :P )

11) Sharon Carter

So you might be forgiven for missing this one, since it required two movies to lay out. But in Winter Soldier one of Cap's neighbors in revealed to be a SHIELD Agent whos keeping tabs on him...specifically Agent 13. However that movie only really calls her Kate. She was first outed as Sharon Carter in the promotional material for Civil War, and first called by that name in that movie (I dont consider this a spoiler cause like I said, a lot of the promotional material mentioned this) with Kate being revealed as an alias.

Now in the comics Sharon Carter was a member of Captain America's Secret Avengers team....though her role was often confined to that of team's pilot and SHIELD liaison...though she did see some front line combat. 

12) Daisy Johnson AKA Quake. 

I have to say, this one was a BIG disappointment for me, it kinda ruined all of season 2 of "agents of shield" for me once it was revealed "skyes" father was named Calvin, and that she was an inhuman.....just like her comic book counter part, Daisy Johnson, the daughter of Calvin Johnson, AKA Mr. Hyde.

And like her comic book counter part Skye's mother was an inhuman (albeit not their leader)....and her powers are identical to her onscreen version.

Now dont get me wrong, I actually like the MCU version of Johnson....it was just a little disappointing having the whole reveal wrecked so far ahead of time.

There's an argument too as to which version of Johnson is the more successful. The MCU version is the better known and is the central to the Agents of Shield show, and possibly the whole Inhuman story arc that will eventually turn into a movie.

Her comic counterpart meanwhile is significantly more successful in universe, having previously been the director of shield, and having gotten the highest level shield clearance by age 17...

But of her stint as an avenger? well given that she was put on the team by Bendis, it should surprise no one that despite being the director of SHIELD at the same time she was an avengers, she did absolutely dick on the team, disappearing after 4 issues only to return over a year later claiming to be an active member of the team, only to quite literally disappear with no explanation given between panels. (and no this wasnt part of a story line of plot device...this was shit writing, as she and the rest of SHIELD just vanished in the middle of a fight cause Bendis couldnt be bothered to draw her anymore or something)

13) Mockingbird

Bobbi Morse, formally from Agents of Shield. In the TV show shes basically just another of SHIELD super trained combat ready female agents like Melinda May, Black Widow or even Maria Hill....except for the metal staff/baton things she uses.

Those by the way are the weapon of choice for her comic book counterpart. Now while the MCU and comicbook Mockingbirds are both divorced....in the MCU she divorced fellow ex shield agent Lance Hunter....but in the comics her hubby was Hawkeye. In fact their divorce was triggered by her rape and later killing of her rapist and Hawk's inability to deal with that. This was actually the dominate storyline for near the first 4 years of the West Coast Avengers.

Fun fact by the way, the comic book version of Bobbi is now romantically involved with the comic book version of Lance Hunter....who actually predates his MCU counterpart by 40 years. Unlike her on screen counterpart however, Bobbi actually got superpowers in the comics, evenually being injected with a mixture of  Captain America's Super Soldier Serum and Nick Fury's Infinity Formula (in the comics Fury also dates from WWII and the infinity formula is what stopped him from aging)

Granted as this happened when Bendis was writing the avengers it amounted to dick...but hey.

So there you have it...all the avengers you didnt realize were already in the MCU...and the number will be going up shortly as Netflix will soon be airing an Iron Fist TV show....and Fist was another Benis era addition to the team (who was so so badly mistreated by Bendis that at one point he had explicitly and on panel quit the team and Bendis continued to draw him in fight scenes for several issues just cause.....)

And this number could be even higher if I included some of the non officially sanctioned avengers teams, like the Shield team that appeared in the comic "Secret Avengers"....which was only given that title as a cash in. But adding that team would add Maria Hill, Nick Fury and Phil Coulson to the list, and counting liaison who never offically joined the team would add Victoria Hand who appeared in the first season of Agents of Shield as in comics was HAMMER and SHIELD liaison for the Dark and New Avengers.