Summary

• Some Avengers have a dark past and have committed cruel acts, such as Wolverine locking a smuggler in a container with dead bodies.
• Red Hulk slaughtered his teammates before going after Galactus, showcasing his cruelty and satisfaction in violence.
• Moon Knight's stint in prison allowed him to exhibit his cruel nature through violent acts against imprisoned men, crossing the line into cruelty.

The Avengers are literally known as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, as they are a team consisting of the bravest and the boldest superheroes in the Marvel Universe who are willing to put their lives on the line to save the world from any and every threat, no matter how dangerous that threat might be. But, that doesn't mean every member is a good person, and it definitely doesn’t mean they’ve always been a good person.

While some superheroes are good through-and-through, a number of them first had to find redemption after having spent some time either as an antihero or a full-on villain. Sure, they’re fighting to protect the Earth now, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t needlessly tearing people apart or having a hand in pleasurable cruelty in their past. Some heroes can move beyond their checkered past by doing an overwhelming amount of good to make up for it, but others will always carry their past crimes with them, no matter how much good they do (and others still have remained morally ambiguous, even as a member of the Avengers). With that said, here are the 10 cruelest Avengers in Marvel Comics lore!

10 Wolverine

One of the most cruel things Logan has ever done to someone - even though they deserved it completely - was actually during one of his most unspectacular comic runs to date, though one that was incredibly heavy, and had immense impact. In Wolverine Vol. 3 #7 by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez, Logan encounters a couple of ‘coyotes’ (or people who smuggle immigrants across the U.S./Mexico border). These guys took money from families trying to make better lives for themselves, loaded them into the back of a semi truck container, and locked them in, killing all of them. So, after Wolverine stabbed one of the men to death, he forced the other one into the container with all the corpses, and locked him inside as well.

Sure, Wolverine has committed much more brutal acts than this, and the man he did this to did deserve it, after all. But still, the idea of doing that to someone is haunting, and is definitely a cruel punishment.

9 Red Hulk

Red Hulk, or Thaddeus Ross, has ittedly done some pretty messed up things in Marvel Comics, even without the power of the Red Hulk. However, one of the cruelest things he’s ever done was during the events of Hulk Vol. 2 #10-12 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. In those issues, Red Hulk is allowed to handpick a team of super powered individuals to battle the Defenders, as he’s being used by the Elders of the Universe to settle a bet. After he does so, and the battle is supposed to commence, Red Hulk proceeds to slaughter his teammates, and then he goes after Galactus (given his recent cosmic power-up).

Not only that, but Red Hulk impales Hulk on the end of a trident, only adding to this escapade of cruelty - which is made worse by the satisfaction it brings him.

8 Moon Knight

It’s difficult to pin down one instance of cruelty for this entry, as Moon Knight is one of the most hardcore antiheroes in Marvel Comics. However, for at least one of them, it’s safe to say that his stint in prison is perhaps where Moon Knight exhibited the cruelest aspects of his nature. In Devil’s Reign: Moon Knight #1 by Jed MacKay and Federico Sabbatini, a number of heroes have been arrested and sent to prison following then-Mayor Wilson Fisk’s law that made being a superhero in New York City illegal. Once in prison (and with a haunting white sack with a moon scribble on it covering his face), Moon Knight s a fighting ring, where he lets out his anger and frustration on those who ‘deserve it’.

The thing is, though, that Moon Knight wasn’t protecting anyone with this violence, as these men were already in prison. This was violence for its own sake, meaning it crossed the line from vigilantism to cruelty.

7 Namor

It’s more surprising that Namor ended up on the Avengers at all than it is that he’d end up on this list. Namor is not a hero, he is a king. He rules his kingdom with pride and authority, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep that kingdom safe. That’s why he s with the Avengers from time-to-time to handle world-wide threats, and that’s why one of the cruelest things he’s ever done is especially heinous, as it was against his own people - the very people he’s sworn to protect. During the events of Secret Empire (by Nick Spencer and Steve McNiven), Namor becomes a tyrant. Fearing for Atlantis’ safety, Namor locks his own people down, keeping them from venturing outside the kingdom, and forbidding them from even questioning why. Things got so bad, in fact, that Namor’s cousin Namora had to lead a revolution against him.

While Namor has certainly done other things throughout his comic history that are more violently atrocious, this stands out because it’s Namor showing cruelty towards his own people.

6 Doctor Druid

Funny enough, the worst thing this particular Avenger has done is being an Avenger to begin with - more accurately, leading the Avengers. Doctor Druid is famously the worst Avengers leader in history, a title he’s been assigned for a number of reasons. Doctor Druid became the leader of the Avengers in Avengers #294 by Walter Simonson and John Buscema, and he did so by influencing the Avengers’ minds into voting him leader of the team. Not only that, but Doctor Druid did this after consistently playing mental-manipulation games with the Avengers, entering their minds and influencing their actions without their knowledge or consent.

Doctor Druid didn’t seem to know what he was doing was wrong, but that’s a poor excuse for a grown man who claims to be one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, making his actions nothing short of cruel (with forcing the Avengers to endure his stupidity the cruelest act of all).

5 Moondragon

Moondragon may be known to some as a valiant Avenger who not only helped Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on a number of cosmic adventures, but who also did everything she could to help the son of a fallen ally - Genis-Vell - understand his cosmic powers when his father - Mar-Vell - couldn’t. However, this seemingly selfless member of the Avengers definitely didn’t start out that way, as Moondragon actually made her debut as a villain named Madame MacEvil. Debuting in Iron Man #54 by Mike Friedrich, Bill Everett, and George Tuska, Moondragon wanted to make hybridized super-soldiers from the DNA of established heroes to serve her own villainous desires, and in that effort, she pitted Iron Man and Namor against each other to see who was superior - and which one she would copy.

Forcing two established Avengers to fight each other before even ing the team herself was just cruel, though not an act of cruelty Moondragon wasn’t able to redeem herself from.

4 Beast

While Moondragon started as a villain and became a hero, Beast has recently completed the opposite narrative journey. Hank McCoy was a founding member of the X-Men, and eventually ed the Avengers in Avengers #151 (by Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, Steve Englehart, and George Perez). Being the resident genius on the X-Men (as well as a proven badass in battle), Beast had a lot to offer Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. However, if he tried to today, the Avengers might not want him. During X-Men’s Krakoan age, Beast has devolved into something of a mad scientist, conducting experiments on his fellow mutants like cloning Wolverine, and even being responsible for a potential future dystopia after creating a ‘Beast-Nimrod’ Sentinel.

Right now in Marvel canon, Beast is essentially a villain, making his level of cruelty one of the worst on this list, as it’s actively ongoing.

3 Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange doesn’t just protect the world alongside the Avengers, but also the entire physical plane as the Sorcerer Supreme. However, he’s been known to use his sorcery in some pretty cruel ways, even if the victims of his wrath technically deserve it. One such instance was in Doctor Strange: The Oath (by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Marín), where Stephen battled a villainous magic-, leading to the death of the man’s physical body, which left his consciousness in the astral plane while his corpse was left mangled in the street.

While Doctor Strange was arguably justified in his actions during this storyline, there doesn’t seem to be any crime worthy of such otherworldly torment, and - as Sorcerer Supreme and an Avenger - Doctor Strange should have known that.

2 Vision

Vision is a synthezoid and long-time ally and member of the Avengers. However, during the events of The Visions storyline, it’s fair to say Vision went a little haywire (indeed, this arc was seemingly the greatest inspiration behind the live-action series WandaVision). During this storyline, Vision created a wife, Virginia, and two children, Vin and Viv. When the Avengers sent Vision’s ‘brother’, Victor, to spy on the family (as they were rightly worried about his unhinged behavior), Victor killed Vin, sparking Vision’s wrath upon the entire Avengers team.

Like so many other entries on this list, Vision’s actions weren’t unjustified, they were simply cruel, especially given the wider circumstances. For lack of a better term, Vision was acting crazy, and that eventually boiled over into violence against the very people he once called his family.

1 Captain Marvel

Aside from the obvious lapse in judgment during the events of Civil War II (an event which many fans have described as an unwitting assault on Carol Danvers’ character), Captain Marvel unleashed her inner darkness during one of her most brutal storylines in Marvel Comics history: The Last Avenger. Kicking off in Captain Marvel #12 by Kelly Thompson and Lee Garbett, The Last Avenger showed Carol brutally attacking her fellow Avengers, and seemingly killing them. While it turned out she wasn’t actually killing them, Captain Marvel was really fighting them, and had to beat each one in a fight in order to ultimately save their lives from the being who was manipulating her into doing all this in the first place.

This example comes from a place of heroism, but the underlying aggression and darkness throughout can only be described as cruel.

Sometimes certain circumstances call for a firm hand, and a superhero has no choice but to let out their inner cruelty for the sake of the greater good. Other times, the hero-in-question absolutely has a choice in the level of severity they could bring to any given situation, and consciously choose cruelty. One way or the other, these examples speak for themselves, making it clear that these 10 Avengers are the cruelest in Marvel Comics lore.