As the MCU’s Avengers head towards Doomsday and Secret Wars, everything is about to change. Sam Wilson is about to debut his own Avengers roster, and a cross-multiversal war will surely introduce multiple versions of the team from different realities.

Thankfully, the comics still have a bunch of Avengers to introduce, including some of the franchise’s greatest leaders. With the main team and spin-off rosters like the New Avengers and Uncanny Avengers, there are a lot of great characters to choose from. Here are the best!

10

Rogue, aka Anna Marie LaBeau

Leader of the Uncanny Avengers, aka the Avengers Unity Division

Originally a villainous mutant, Rogue had run-ins with Avengers stalwart Carol Danvers before being recruited onto the X-Men, causing many heroes to doubt her potential. Despite this, Rogue quickly became an iconic member of the X-Men, and – following the events of Avengers vs X-Men – was recruited onto the Avengers’ Unity Division of humans and mutants.

Initially, Rogue’s firebrand status resulted in a lot of arguments with the human members of the team. However, she eventually became the Unity Division’s leader, commanding heroes including Quicksilver, Deadpool, Spider-Man and Doctor Voodoo.

A fan-favorite character and one of the most physically powerful mutants in the X-Men franchise, MCU fans are hoping that when the MCU eventually introduces its own take on mutants, Rogue gets a significant reboot. What better way to do it than to make her an Avenger?

9

Captain America 2099, aka Roberta Mendez

Leader of the Avengers 2099

Marvel’s 2099 line showcases a near-future Earth generally treated as the most likely future of the mainstream Earth-616. This timeline has its own versions of all major heroes, including the Avengers 2099. The team includes the winged hero Hawkeye, precognitive hero the Vision and former serial killer the Black Widow.

The team are led by Roberta Mendez – a victim of the villainous Alchemax corporation who has had the alternate ‘Captain America’ persona implanted in her mind. As Captain America, Roberta has the enhanced physique of a Super-Soldier and wields shapeshifting photonic energy which she can use as both wings and a shield.

The Avengers 2099 would make a perfect alternate Avengers team for Secret Wars, especially because the roster boasts a (far) older version of the immortal hero Hercules, played in the MCU by Brett Goldstein.

8

Black Widow, aka Monica Chang

Leader of the Ultimates and Ultimate Avengers

In the darker universe of Earth-1610, the Ultimates are Avengers in all but name, with iconic heroes including Captain America, Thor, Hulk and more. After a disgraced Nick Fury was fired as the team’s leader and original Black Widow Natasha Romanova betrayed the team, leadership was taken over by secret agent Monica Chang.

The former wife of Nick Fury, Monica harbors a burning hatred of her former partner for his repeated betrayals of her – ironic, given she is herself known for her profound ruthlessness. A genius tactician and expert combatant, Monica utilizes a variety of advanced weaponry and gadgets, including a suit that allows her to run at approximately 110 mph.

A dark-hearted hero, Monica represents the Avengers as black-ops enforcers – another ideal pick to represent how different the team are in other parts of Secret Wars‘ multiverse.

7

Blue Marvel, aka Adam Brashear

Leader of Avengers World

A popular superhero and genius scientist in the 1960s, Blue Marvel was forced to leave the public spotlight after the government discovered his race. After decades exploring alternate realities and studying the bizarre corners of the Marvel Universe, Adam reemerged in the modern day, working with the Defenders and Ultimates to address cosmic problems.

When the eldritch god Nyx spread darkness across Earth in Avengers No Road Home, Adam found himself leading the Avengers World – a group composed of the Wasp’s Genius In action Research Labs, Toni Ho’s R.E.S.C.U.E., members of the Fallen Angels, various international heroes and several Avengers, including America Chavez and Lightning.

Adam is one of Marvel’s most powerful beings – a living antimatter reactor with strength comparable to the Hulk. His distrust of the main Avengers team and several major heroes – including Black Panther and Reed Richards – make him an interesting character to drop into the Avengers franchise, and hopefully someone the MCU will eventually introduce into its main reality.

6

Tigra, aka Greer Nelson

Leader of the Avengers Resistance

A trusted member of the Avengers and their West Coast Avengers spin-off team, Tigra has a feline physiology which increases her strength, speed and senses will also causing her to grow vicious claws. Tigra also has animalistic instincts, and has been known to go too far against villains who have personally crossed her.

That makes it all the more unusual that she’s had a significant role in training the next generation of Avengers, acting as a mentor at both the Avengers Academy and the Avengers Initiative. When the villainous Norman Osborn rose to power and turned the latter into a school for his lackeys, Tigra gathered the heroic faculty together with the New Warriors, declaring them the Avengers Resistance – a guerrilla force who engaged in smash-and-grab missions against Osborn’s regime.

In many ways, Tigra is the Avengers’ answer to Wolverine – a brutal fighter who crosses lines that most heroes won’t. Despite her trusted status, she’s one of the Avengers’ darkest heroes, and will almost certainly be introduced if the MCU chooses to embrace the West Coast Avengers brand (a possible way to resolve the current tensions between Sam Wilson’s Avengers and the ‘New Avengers’ introduced in Thunderbolts*.)

5

Havok, aka Alex Summers

Leader of the Uncanny Avengers, aka Avengers Unity Division

Following the Avengers vs X-Men conflict, Captain America decided the Avengers hadn’t done enough to champion the mutant cause. In response, he launched the Avengers Unity Division – a team dedicated to improving and protecting mutant/human relations. Cap chose Alex Summers – the brother of Scott Summers’ Cyclops – to lead the team.

While he often exists in his brother’s shadow, Havok is an incredibly powerful hero, and has even taken the Hulk down solo by aiming his plasma blasts at the Green Goliath’s brain. The Unity Division was the making of Havok, who took on and beat Kang the Conqueror, saving the entire world, while also embarking on a romance with founding Avengers hero Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp.

4

Dani Moonstar, aka Mirage

Leader of the X-Vengers

In the dark future of the Age of Revelation, Dani Moonstar is the leader of the X-Vengers, wielding Captain America’s shield after the tragic death of Steve Rogers. The team is made up of mutant heroes and former Avengers who have gained new powers from the deadly X-Virus.

More commonly known as the leader of X-Men‘s New Mutants, Dani Moonstar is one of the most respected heroes in X-Men lore. While her powers allow her to manifest a person’s greatest fear, she’s known more for her combat abilities, eventually using her powers to generate psionic arrows that allow her to stun, control or mind-read her targets.

Dani has the mettle of a longtime Avenger, and even faced down the death goddess Hela, temporarily becoming one of her Valkyries. She was played by Blu Hunt in 2020’s The New Mutants, and so could appear alongside the X-Men in Secret Wars.

3

Doctor Druid aka Anthony Druid

Leader of the Avengers

Take Doctor Strange and remove his charming bedside manner and modesty, and you get Doctor Druid. A powerful sorcerer, Druid is particularly skilled at manipulating nature and controlling minds… which is how he came to be the Avengers’ leader.

In 1988’s Avengers #294 (Walter Simonson, John Buscema), Druid was persuaded to seize control of the Avengers by the time traveler Ravonna Renslayer. Forcing the team to elect him via telepathy, Druid was thankfully lost to the timestream soon after, freeing the team from his control.

Despite his crimes, Druid is a self-sacrificing hero who wants the best for others. While rarely considered one of the coolest Avengers, the storyline of the team having an unqualified leader was an interesting one, and worth seeing adapted in the MCU.

2

Sunspot, aka Roberto Da Costa

Leader of Avengers Idea Mechanics and U.S.Avengers

A former member of the New Mutants, Sunspot was invited onto the Avengers when Captain America and Iron Man vastly expanded the team. After clashing with the terrorist group Advanced Idea Mechanics, Roberto developed personal relationships with their key personnel and ultimately bought a controlling share in AIM when they tried to launder their reputation by ‘going legit’, turning the villains into the Avengers’ tech support with clever financial wrangling.

As the traditional Avengers collapsed into in-fighting (in the run-up to 2015’s Secret Wars), Roberto turned AIM into his personal Avengers, with heroes including Blue Marvel, Hawkeye, Songbird and Wiccan. Sunspot’s successes got him hired by the US government, and his U.S.Avengers roster added Robert Maverick’s Red Hulk, Toni Ho’s Iron Patriot and Danielle Cage’s future Captain America.

Drawing power from ambient energy, Sunspot has incredible strength which, at its highest level, is comparable to the Hulk. Played in The New Mutants by Henry Zaga, Fox’s X-Men franchise has barely scratched the surface of this character’s potential.

1

Magneto, aka Max Eisenhardt

Leader of the Astonishing Avengers

Iconically played by both Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender, the Master of Magnetism is seemingly set to return in 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars. If the MCU plans to launch its own X-Men movies, it will need an ambitious new take on their most iconic villain… so why not give him his own Avengers?

During the events of 2014’s AXIS event, the Red Skull acquired immense power as the new Onslaught. To bring down the Nazi villain, Magneto gathered together a team of villains including Carnage, Hobgoblin, Mystique and more. When a spell gone wrong flipped the moral alignments of the heroes and villains present for the battle, the Astonishing Avengers were born.

AXIS isn’t remembered as Marvel’s best event, but turning iconic villains into (still incredibly flawed and dangerous) heroes was a great idea the MCU should definitely adapt – or at least reference with a cameo team in Secret Wars.

Those are the 10 Avengers leaders the MCU still needs to introduce – let us know in the comments below who else should appear on this list.