Norman Osborn’s villainous Dark Avengers included some of the deadliest and most irredeemable characters in Marvel Comics history, and they caused more damage than they ever fixed while pretending to be heroes. This group was set up during the “Dark Reign” arc when the United States government rewarded Osborn with control of HAMMER and the Avengers brand after he helped win the “Secret Invasion” war. The team officially debuted in Dark Avengers #1 (2009) by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. The villains hid behind the codenames of former Avengers heroes, tricking the public into thinking they were the original heroes, while helping Osborn seize more control.
The team had eight members in its original lineup. The second iteration of the team added new members, with the two most powerful newcomers filling out the countdown of the first 10 Dark Avengers members, ranked by power.
10) Bullseye (Hawkeye)
Bullseye took over the role of Hawkeye on the Dark Avengers team for Norman Osborn, which makes sense because he is one of the greatest marksmen in the Marvel Universe, possibly even better than Clint Barton himself. He doesn’t have the power levels of other members of the Dark Avengers, but he is one of the deadliest members, thanks to his accuracy with any weapon or object. Bullseye is the Daredevil villain who murdered both Elektra and Karen Page, and in Daredevil: End of Days, he killed Daredevil himself. He is the least powerful of the Dark Avengers, but he is the one Osborn called on when he needed someone killed.
9) Ragnarok
Ragnarok is extremely strong, and he showed this during the “Civil War” event when he murdered Goliath (Bill Foster). However, he is Thor’s clone and has nowhere near the actual powers of the God of Thunder. As for the Dark Avengers, he was part of the second iteration of the team and showed up to help them fight the New Avengers. In this storyline, he injured Wolverine, took down Luke Cage, and almost killed Spider-Man. It took the entire New Avengers team to finally beat him, shut him down, and leave him for Osborn to deal with after the fact. His defeat proves he is powerful, but not overpowered.
8) Skaar
Skaar was very powerful when he joined the Dark Avengers in the second iteration of the group. This is because he has a combination of the powers of his father (Hulk) and mother (Caiera), giving Skaar his gamma-radiation powers and the Old Power abilities. His first appearance with the team was in Dark Avengers #175, and he is the strongest of the new members. However, the twist is that he was working for Steve Rogers at the time as a double agent to help bring the team down from the inside. He is so powerful that he single-handedly took down the entire lineup once he showed his true colors. Skaar might be the strongest from a brute force level of any Dark Avengers member other than Sentry.
7) Marvel Boy (Captain Marvel)
Noh-Varr was known as Marvel Boy when Norman Osborn recruited him, and he took on the identity of the late Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell). Unlike most of his teammates, Noh-Varr joined the team for the right reasons, because he thought they were heroes. When he learned his teammates were villains (other than Sentry), he quit and went on the run, wanting nothing to do with the Dark Avengers. As for power levels, Marvel Boy is a Kree soldier from a parallel reality, genetically engineered with cockroach DNA, giving him enhanced powers. Norman Osborn also gave him Nega-Bands, which gave him even more powers, which allowed him to escape when Osborn sent Sentry after him.
6) Daken (Wolverine)
Daken is Akihiro, Wolverine’s mutant son with his late wife Itsu. Wolverine never knew Daken existed for many years, which caused the boy to grow up with resentment and anger, all focused toward his father. Daken joined the Dark Avengers by using his father’s costume, becoming the new Wolverine. However, he was even deadlier than his dad, as he showed when he murdered the Punisher, chopping him into pieces, per Osborn’s orders. For most of his run with the Dark Avengers, Daken focused on tormenting his father, and his powers rival those of Wolverine. He has a healing factor, the power to dampen the emotions of people around him, and the ability to hide his scent.
5) Venom (Mac Gargan)
Mac Gargan, previously known as the Scorpion, became the new host for the Venom symbiote. Osborn had him morph the symbiote’s shape to look like Spider-Man in his black costume. This helped ruin Spider-Man’s reputation for a long time since Gargan was a murderer and extremely violent. Gargan made it look like Spider-Man was the one running wild. Thanks to serving as Venom’s host, he was also as powerful as any other Venom host, and arguably the deadliest of anyone who hosted the alien symbiote. His combination of strength, the fangs and deadly tail, and Venom’s animalistic killing tendencies at the time make him as deadly as he is powerful.
4) Moonstone (Ms. Marvel)
Moonstone took on the role of Carol Danvers’ Ms. Marvel hero. Other than her superhuman powers, Karla Sofen is also mentally powerful, as she worked as a psychiatrist and often pushed her patients deeper into their psychosis just for fun. However, her powers are also mighty, as she gained them from a Kree gravity stone that bonded to her nervous system. She can fly, become intangible, has super strength, and can fire energy blasts. She was on the team for its first 16 issues, went toe-to-toe with Carol Danvers in a fight, and is second only to Sentry as an energy projector.
3) Norman Osborn (Iron Patriot)
Norman Osborn is proof that power levels aren’t only about brute force firepower. Osborn is the former Green Goblin, and he gained leadership of HAMMER from the U.S. government after he fired the fatal shot that killed the Skrull Queen to end the “Secret Invasion” event. He used this power to form the Dark Avengers, and as the man calling the shots, he was the most powerful member, at least behind the scenes. He does have superhuman powers, as the Goblin Formula gave him enhanced abilities. He also rebranded himself as Iron Patriot, using a red, white, and blue Iron Man armor.
2) Ares
Ares is a literal god on the Dark Avengers team, and he served in this role, believing that Osborn was in the right in this situation. Unlike most of the other members, he didn’t pretend to be anyone else since his reputation as the God of War was enough. The son of Zeus and half-brother to Hercules, he has all the power of the Greek gods. He was one of only two former members of the Mighty Avengers (Iron Man’s Civil War era team) who became Dark Avengers, and when he learned that Osborn was lying and manipulating him, he turned on the group. However, while he could defeat almost any single member of the Dark Avengers roster, there was one man who was stronger than him in every way.
1) Sentry (Void)
Sentry is the most powerful member of the Dark Avengers, and no one else comes close. He proved this when Osborn sent him to take care of Ares after the God of War left the team, and Sentry ripped Ares in half. Robert Reynolds has the power of one million exploding suns, and this makes him extremely dangerous, thanks to his mental health issues and his struggle to keep from going dark and turning into the Void. He has been seemingly killed more than once and always comes back from the dead. The only reason he died during the Dark Avengers actions on the “Siege” storyline was that he was forcibly reverted into his Robert Reynolds form and begged Thor to kill him to protect the world.
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