Following a chaotic series of events that saw the original Avengers disband, an unofficial response team formed known as the New Avengers. While not officially backed by any government, they have often served as a black-ops team of outlaws and rebels who fight the good fight when the primary band of heroes has failed to protect the peace and the innocent. However, this team would be nothing without their villains.

The New Avengers officially debuted in New Avengers #3 (2005) after the villain Electro launched a prison break at the Raft, releasing many of Marvel’s most terrifying villains back into the world. With no official Avengers to respond to the disaster, Captain America and Iron Man formed an emergency response team that they would dub the New Avengers. This team of heroes would frequently rebel against dominating, authoritative powers, including many of their old allies. However, what truly makes this team unique are the numerous villains they have fought throughout their tenure.

8 The Mighty Avengers

Debuted In: Mighty Avengers #1 (2007) by Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho

While the Mighty Avengers could be considered heroes from their own perspective, this team of Avengers rose during the first Superhuman Civil War. Before, both Iron Man and Captain America served on the original New Avengers teams but, after their fallout, Iron Man drafted a few of the New Avengers to his government-sponsored Mighty Avengers while the New Avengers transformed into an underground resistance network.

Unlike the more subversive and street-level qualities of the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers represented government compliance, order, and authority. The Mighty Avengers’ willingness to conscript supervillains only sullied the good reputations of the team’s heroes, transforming the Mighty Avengers into authoritarian villains themselves by association. Ultimately, the New Avengers triumphed in the ideological war, but the collateral damage on both sides devastated the entirety of the superhero community.

7 The Dark Avengers

Debuted In: Dark Avengers #1 (2009) by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr.

The Dark Avengers are a band of villains and morally gray anti-heroes conscripted by Norman Osborn after the Secret Invasion storyline. Osborn, now the President of the United States, banned all other superhero work and disguised his villainous team as America’s official Avengers. Composed of characters like Sentry, Mac Gargan’s Venom, and Osborn himself, the Dark Avengers weaponized propaganda and public trust in the Avengers’ brand to cement their power.

Much like they did during the Civil War, the New Avengers operated as a resistance network against Osborn’s presidency and the Dark Avengers’ harsh control over the superhero community. After Osborn was deposed and the Dark Avengers were exposed for what they were, many of the New Avengers reformed as the primary Avengers team while the street-level heroes carried on the New Avengers’ off-the-books hero work. Another iteration of Norman’s team would return years later but was quickly shut down by the New Avengers once again.

6 Hood’s Gang

Debuted In: New Avengers #35 (2007) by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu

During his reign as the Kingpin of Crime in New York City, the demonically enchanted C-list nobody turned top-tier threat known as the Hood owned New York’s criminal underground with an iron fist. This loose alliance of supervillains was brought together by the Hood’s vast magical abilities and resilience in the face of adversity. The Hood and his gang frequently exploited the superhero community’s inability to unify, especially during the first Civil War.

The Hood’s Gang continued to operate throughout Norman Osborn’s presidency and through the Skrull Invasion, where they would consistently clash with the New Avengers, while the team continued to face other ongoing major threats. While the Hood is a particularly meager individual, his tenacity, mystical mastery, and charismatic ability to rally large forces made him and his gang a legitimate threat to the New Avengers.

5 The Raft Prison Outbreak

Debuted In: New Avengers #1 (2005) by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch

While this group isn’t necessarily an official team, it is the unifying force that would lead to the original New Avengers’ founding. Months after the Scarlet Witch decimated the Avengers, a massive prison break at the Raft led to dozens of incarcerated supervillains pouring out into the streets of New York City. What remained of the Avengers reformed as a new response team, unattached to the bureaucratic tape that bound the original team.

During the initial outbreak, the heroes present were swarmed by villains, all looking to take revenge on the superheroes who put them in prison. The conflict was gruesome and brutal as inmates violently flanked the heroes. Bloody and beaten, the heroes officially formed the New Avengers and set out to hunt down each of the criminals who had escaped the Raft. This would be the team’s primary mission until the first Civil War event happened years later.

4 W.H.I.S.P.E.R.

Debuted In: Avengers #0 (2015) by Al Ewing and Gerardo Sandoval

Sometime after Robert Da Costa, aka Sunspot, purchased AIM and chased the morally corrupt scientists to flee the organization, many of the now-jobless evil scientists were hired by the Maker. Meanwhile, Janos Trovaya’s WHISPER sought to manipulate the Maker and temporarily signed over WHISPER to the evil Reed Richards variant. However, the Maker was already aware of these manipulations and fully took over the technocratic organization under the pretense of building a better, more unified world.

When the Maker’s true plans were revealed, Da Costa’s Avengers Idea Mechanics sent forth the recently reformed New Avengers to disrupt the villain’s plans to harness the souls of the dead to forge a superpowered army of drone soldiers. In response, the Maker designed his own team called the New Revengers, battling their heroic alternatives with the combined power of physical might and intellectual warfare. Ultimately, with Earth-616’s Reed Richard’s help, the New Avengers defeated the New Revengers, and the Maker was placed in prison.

3 The Hand

Debuted In: Daredevil #174 (1981) by Frank Miller

One of Marvel’s most notorious villain groups, the Hand is an ancient ninja clan that worships a vile demon known as The Beast. While the Hand is more often associated with Daredevil or the Punisher, the villainous organization crossed paths with the New Avengers following the first Civil War. During a mission in Japan, one of the New Avengers’ newest recruits, Echo, infiltrated the Hand to investigate a potential alliance forming between the Hand, Madame Hydra’s forces, and the Clan Yashida.

While Echo, currently posing as the Ronin, directly engaged the Hand, Spider-Woman held a secret meeting with Madame Hydra. Meanwhile, the New Avengers were swarmed by a horde of Hand ninjas as a greater conspiracy surfaced regarding SHIELD’s involvement with Hydra, creating a growing sense of distrust within the team until Spider-Woman revealed herself to be a triple agent working for Nick Fury. Soon after, the New Avengers emerged as a formal superhero team for the first time.

2 Hydra

Debuted In: Strange Tales #135 (1965) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Like the Hand, Hydra is a staple organization of villains to the Marvel universe that needs little-to-no introduction. The conclave of Nazi offshoots, obsessed with controlling the world through advanced technological and mystical means, has repeatedly faced hundreds of Marvel’s mightiest heroes and villains alike. While Hydra was always a growing presence throughout the first two New Avengers series, the team of heroes officially crossed paths with Hydra when investigating a potential villainous coalition between the Nazi scientists and the Hand.

Years later, after the Dark Reign event, Hydra once again teamed up with the Hand, AIM, and HAMMER to form a new collective with Norman Osborn as one of its prime figures. With Hydra’s backing, Osborn was able to create a second, more villainous iteration of the Dark Avengers, who became fast enemies of the New Avengers. While the band of rebel heroes hasn’t fought Hydra head-on often, Hydra’s corruptive influence has infected many of the other supervillain teams that the New Avengers did directly confront.

1 The Skrull Empire

Debuted In: Fantastic Four #2 (1961) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

More than any other threat featured on this list, the Skrull Empire proved to be one of the greatest enemies Earth has ever seen. Heroes and villains alike were shocked to discover that many of their allies and enemies were secretly of the alien race, prepared to launch an invasion when the full Skrull armada finally arrived. By the Secret Invasion event, the New Avengers were still considered an outlaw team following the first Civil War and unofficially served as a black-ops response team.

It was later revealed that Spider-Woman, who had been a staple of the New Avengers, was actually Queen Veranke, the mastermind behind the Skrulls’ invasion of Earth. Now united under a common enemy, the official Avengers and the New Avengers set aside their quarrels and ed forces to defeat the threat. However, as the threat of the invasion was finally ended, Norman Osborn would soon take control of the United States and once again outlaw the New Avengers, branding them as enemies of the state.