Captain America’s Defenders Team Make the Avengers Look C-List

While the Avengers are known as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, there is a reality in which Captain America leads another team–one which goes by the title of ‘the Defenders’–that makes the Avengers look like a C-list squad.

The Avengers were first formed in Avengers #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Hulk. Not long after, the Avengers recruited Captain America after discovering his body frozen in ice (well, technically Namor discovered it, but the Avengers didn’t know that). After some time serving on the team, Captain America became the leader of a whole new lineup of the Avengers following the temporary retirement of the original crew. Captain America then found himself leading Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver before Ant-Man and the Wasp returned some time later. Essentially, within the first twenty or so issues of the Avengers, the heroes who served on the team shifted and changed very regularly–something that became a trend as the years continued. Now, it seems like there aren’t any heroes in the Marvel Universe who haven’t been considered an Avenger at one time or another. The thing is, though, the most powerful (and most popular) among them never seemed to take up every spot on the team at the same time–unlike the Defenders.

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In Age of Ultron #7 by Brian Michael Bendis, Brandon Peterson, and Carlos Pacheco, Wolverine and Invisible Woman find themselves in an alternate future of their own making after Wolverine traveled back in time and killed Hank Pym before he was able to create Ultron. In the world where these versions of Logan and Sue came from, Ultron has taken over the planet and has turned it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. So, in order to change the future, they figured going back and killing Ultron’s creator is the best course of action. While they succeeded in stopping Ultron, the chain of events from that action created a world that was arguably worse–one that has been overrun by magical and demonic forces. In an effort to battle those forces, the version of Captain America in this world (who is called Colonel America) leads a team known as the Defenders–a team consisting of himself, Doctor Strange, Cyclops (who is known as Cable in this timeline), Wolverine, Hulk, the Thing, Star-Lord, and Captain Marvel.

The Defenders are Insanely Stacked, More So than the Avengers

Every one of the heroes on this version of the Defenders has also served on (or alongside) the Avengers in Earth-616. The difference is, however, that no one Avengers lineup has been as insanely stacked as this Defenders team. Not only are all of these heroes some of the most popular in the Marvel Universe within the fandom, but they are also the most powerful. The Hulk is the heaviest hitter in the world, followed closely by the Thing–so ground-battles are covered with those two alone. Captain Marvel and Star-Lord cover the intergalactic aspect of the team, Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme (‘nuff said), Cyclops is perfect for long-range attacks and is a seasoned warrior, Wolverine literally can’t die and is even more seasoned in warfare than Cyclops, and Colonel America is the perfect leader.

With all of these heroes on the same team at the same time, there is almost no one alive that can defeat them. While their world effectively ends almost immediately after they’re introduced–meaning fans don’t get to see them fully put to the test–the lineup alone speaks for itself. The Avengers are a powerful team, but the roster simply changes too frequently. Plus, whenever a cohesive Avengers team is together, none of them can compare to this version of the Defenders in terms of power and popularity–proving that Captain America’s alternate superhero squad makes the Avengers look like C-listers.

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