While theAvengersmay be Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the team is typically built for versatility rather than lethal power. Lots of different skills and superpowers are needed to head off every possible threat to the planet, resulting in everyone from Hawkeye to Thor having a place on the team. But what happens when the Earth finds itself at war, andthe focus shifts from defeating supervillains to taking down invaders with lethal force? That’s when the War Avengers are unleashed.
Marvel fans met the team in 2019’sWar of the Realms, and followed their adventures in Dennis Hallum, Kim Jacinto and Ario Anindito’sWar of the Realms Strikeforce: The War Avengers. The Thor-centric event saw the Dark Elf Malekith gather an army from across the Ten Realms and invade Earth, with the Avengers creating strike force teams to target various military assets. While Captain America led a team into Jotunheim andPunisher orchestrated an attack on Svartalfheim,Captain Marvel formed her War Avengers to protect Earth from all comers, from Frost Giants to fire demons.
The team are a surprising assemblage of deadly heroes and former villains, withthe Avengers' usual restriction on killing lifted to save humanityfrom a horde of mythical creatures. Here’s every member of Carol Danvers' deadly team, who only assembled when heroism wasn’t enough to get the job done.
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8Winter Soldier
Bucky Barnes' Cyborg Spy Unleashed Heavy Ordinance
The Winter Soldier may seem like an odd choice for an Avengers team on a war footing, but Bucky went from super spy to giant-killer during the War of the Realms. With experience in an actual world war (and life-or-death combat in freezing conditions), Winter Soldier was the right choice for the War Avengers, using heavy ordinance to fight off Malekith’s army of Frost Giants. With Earth on the line, the War Avengers had access to an armory of advanced weaponry, withBucky using grenades, laser rifles and a warplane to take on Frost Giants, Dark Elves and more.
7Black Widow
Natalia Romanova Got a Mech Suit for the War of the Realms
An iconic black-ops Avenger, Black Widow was believed dead duringWar of the Realms, having beenkilled by Captain America’s clonein 2017’sSecret Empire. Brought back to life by a secret Russian cloning program, Natasha couldn’t sit out a literal war, and joined the War Avengers in their many battles. Perhaps to hide her return,Black Widow spent a lot of the War of the Realms as a pilot, both of the War Avengers' jet and a custom mechwhich debuted during the team’s battle in Sweden.
Black Widow spent most of the War of the Realms partnered with longtime ally and former lover Bucky Barnes and - as a member of both the Avengers and Secret Avengers - is one of the iconic characters who helped lend the War Avengers legitimacy as an official Avengers offshoot.
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6Deadpool
Wade Wilson Was Australia’s Protector During the War of the Realms
Deadpool was an important player inWar of the Realms, both joining the War Avengers andbeing dispatched to Australia to fight off a troll invasion force. The unkillable mercenary also faced off against Muspelheim Firesharks and battled a Dark Elf army in his own mech, complete with custom red-and-black paint job. An expert with all forms of weaponry andboasting a healing factorthat allows him to recover from pretty much anything, Deadpool is also an experienced killer, making him a must-have member of the War Avengers.
5Lady Sif
The Asgardian God Has Gone from Strength to Strength Over the Last Decade
As an Asgardian warrior god, Sif was an obvious choice for lethal missions against Malekith’s army, having tangled with the Dark Elf mage in the past. Sif boasts an enhanced physiology including godlike strength, speed and durability, as well as an enchanted sword that allows her to teleport across long distances.The War of the Realmswas incredibly costly for Sif, who lost her brother Heimdall in the fighting, and quickly replaced him as the guardian of the Bifrost bridge, with mystic sight that allows her to see across all the Ten Realms.
Recently, Marvel surprised fans by making Sif a key player in its new Ultimate Universe, where she’s afounding member of the Ultimates(this world’s version of the Avengers.) Alongside Thor, the Ultimate Sif is currently leading a rebellion against Loki’s Asgard.
4Venom
The Symbiote Switched Sides Against Its Will
Venom was a key player inWar of the Realms, but not for the reasons that the symbiote wanted. While the alien parasite usually works with a host,War of the Realmssaw the symbiote working by itself, allowing it to pull off cool tricks like infiltrating a giant’s body and lobotomizing the monster from within. Sadly, when the War Avengers tried to assassinate Malekith, the Dark Elfused his magic to corrupt the Venom symbiote, forcing it to join his ranks.
The resulting creature called itself Svartalvenom, and tried to kill Thor’s mother Freyja. Eventually, Malekith himself bonded with the symbiote, declaring himself ‘the Butcher of Thors.’ Thankfully, the villain was defeated by an alliance of different versions of Thor from across time, and Venom was freed. Interestingly, Venom also joined the Secret Avengers during its time as ‘Agent Venom’ with host Flash Thompson. That means theVenomsymbiotehas joined the Avengers twice, despite the fact that its usual host Eddie Brock has never officially had the honor.
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3Weapon H
The Wolverine/Hulk Hybrid Is Clayton Cortez
A former marine and later mercenary, Clayton Cortez was subjected to a series of experiments that combined his DNA with that of both the Hulk and Wolverine. Thisturned Cortez into Weapon H, with gigantic gamma-powered muscles and huge, metal-coated claws. However,Weapon H also has a range of unique powers all his own, including his ability to fire his claws as projectilesand to ‘gamma switch’ - a process where he can gain the powers of different types of Hulk, for instance growing the wings of the gamma monster known as Red Harpy.
Weapon H joined the War Avengers at Captain America’s request, offering both tactical insight and giant-toppling muscle to the team, mainly working side-by-side with Venom.
2Captain Britain
Brian Braddock Joined the Team to Save London
Another former member of the Secret Avengers,Captain Britain offered the War Avengers shelter at his magical hero school, Braddock Academy. However, when Malekith was sighted fighting Britain’s heroes in London, he joined the team to launch an attack on the guiding force of the invasion. Tragically, it’s not the first time Captain Britain has played a major part in a worldwide war, as theCaptain Britain and MI13saw him lead Britain’s fight againstSecret Invasion’s Skrull army, robbing the alien invaders of their many mystic weapons.
While Captain Britain once fought using a combination of a hi-tech suit and ancient magic, his death and rebirth duringSecret Invasionredefined his powers. Merlin resurrected Brian Braddock with confidence-based powers, allowing him to do anything he truly believes he can. Sadly, later events saw Brian hand the Captain Britain title to his sister, X-Men’s Betsy Braddock, andtake the codename Captain Avalon.
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1Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers Is the War Avengers' Leader
The leader of the War Avengers and their biggest gun, Captain Marvel can channel cosmic energy, giving her immense strength and energy blasts that even Marvel’s gods have learned to fear. Carol Danvers' military career with the United States Air Force gave her the experience to run all efforts to protect Earth while other Avengers units took the fight to Malekith.It was Carol who handpicked the War Avengers, warning them that there was no real hope of them winning the war - their job was to lose slowly enough that other teams could bring down Malekith’s regime before Earth suffered irreversible damage (a goal she briefly lost sight of when the chance to assassinate Malekith emerged.)
Captain Marvel more than proved herself inThe War of the Realms, and today acts as theleader of the main Avengers roster, as seen in the team’s ongoing series. 2019 was a huge year for the heroes, seeing her both command the War Avengers and debut in the MCU, played by Brie Larson.
Those are the eight current member of the War Avengers - a team that fans will hopefully see again soon, given their unique relationships and remit to act as truly lethal heroes. Of course, theWar Avengerswill only return if the entire Earth finds itself at war, so it’s unlikely any of the actual members would look forward to a reunion.
