The New Avengers Are Already Proving To Have A Vastly Different Dynamic To The Original Avengers Team (And It's Better)

With the Thunderbolts*

having introduced The New Avengers to the world, it’s worth comparing them to the original team and seeing how they shape up. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

has spent years building stories around the incredible brave individuals who put their lives on the line to protect others. And over time, the heroes eventually found ways to work together, and form a team that could protect the world better than if they continued to operate as individual heroes. However, the Avengers had their flaws.

Likewise, the ragtag group of heroes introduced in Thunderbolts* appear to lead with their flaws. From the beginning, it’s clear that these are broken people who suffered a great deal before falling into a pattern of being mercenaries, ᴀssᴀssins, or lab experiments. Despite all this, the group has managed to find each other, and find a rhythm as they work together. And this led to these misfits forming a team that is now hailed as The New Avengers thanks to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s interference. But they do have some advantages over the originals, despite a less varied power set and shady backgrounds.

The Avengers May Have Been Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, But The New Avengers Are Proving To Be A Family

The New Avengers Have Found A Way To Work Together

The Avengers was a team that was originally set up by Nick Fury, an agent of SHIELD. When he met Captain Marvel, Fury had the bright idea of recruiting a group of heroes, a mix of superpeople and exceptional human beings, who he would bring in to The Avengers Initiative. However, it took decades to get a team together, and even then, it wasn’t until a major crisis occurred that Fury was desperate enough to activate the protocol and bring the heroes in one by one. But after gathering, the Avengers continued to struggle with differences of opinions, and overall clashing of personalities.

The New Avengers had a similarly dysfunctional moment that brought them together, as a part of the team were ᴀssigned to kill each other as part of a clean-up operation by Valentina. After learning about Valentina’s deceit, the team form an uneasy alliance, and find some new recruits along the way. However, where they distinguish themselves from the original Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is how much these heroes learned to lean on one another in a short span of time. From their first meeting to becoming The New Avengers, these heroes were together for about a day, but they recognized how each of them had similar baggage, and they decided to share the load.

Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Both Led The Avengers In Different Ways

The Avengers Were Not Always On The Same Page

Going back to the Avengers, this team may have been formed under better conditions, and with careful planning and consideration, but the moment they needed to come together, egos collided. Steve Rogers, a man who single-handedly turned the tides during World War II, stands tall as the obvious choice to lead the team, and he does so. However, Captain America does not immediately get the respect and support of everyone on the team, since he is joined by a genius billionaire, a Norse god, and a man who turns into an almost mindless monster.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark makes an impression on people like Bruce Banner, and the team appears to already have some cracks before they begin. They did manage to work together, and save New York from an alien invasion, and they reunited later to handle threats like Ultron, but eventually the cracks grew too big, and the team split into two, with Stark leading one group, and Rogers leading another. While the heroes grew to respect and even love one another, they had major disagreements, and they were not always on the same side. Though they continued to put those differences aside when things got too rough.

Yelena Belova & Bucky Barnes Are The Foundational Members Of The New Avengers

The New Avengers Have A Looser Leadership Structure

In The New Avengers lineup, there appear to be two characters who make the most sense as leaders for the team. Bucky Barnes was Steve Rogers’ best friend, a soldier who fought by his side, and an incredible tactician with close to a hundred years of experience on missions under his belt. Bucky has a lot to offer, and his combat skills are tough to beat. However, Bucky does not want the spotlight, and he is happy to play a supporting role, propping up others to lead and inspire, which may partially be due to his immense guilt after being a brainwashed ᴀssᴀssin for HYDRA.

Yelena Belova was also an ᴀssᴀssin who was coerced to go on missions and do unsavory work as part of the Red Room initiative. However, Yelena is not afraid to confront her past, and steps up to lead. Yelena knows her skills are exemplary, and she knows how to connect with others. When she meets Bob in Thunderbolts*, it’s her compᴀssion and patience that leads to the pair forming a quick and intense bond that would eventually save him from the Void. Yelena also earns the respect of the team, and knows how to direct people according to their strengths, which makes her the perfect choice to lead the team.

The New Avengers Have The Potential To Be An Even More Cohesive Team Than The Avengers

The New Avengers Are Already Operating As A More United Team

In some ways, The New Avengers is being viewed as a considerable downgrade from the team led by Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. However, these fresh new heroes have the potential to do a lot of good. For one, they are incredibly motivated to help people and redeem themselves from their past work as ᴀssᴀssins and mercenaries. Each one of them understands what it means to have regrets, and they live in a way that ensures they will not have any more. And because of their similar histories, they can hold each other accountable and prop each other up.

Yelena also earns the respect of the team, and knows how to direct people according to their strengths, which makes her the perfect choice to lead the team.

But beyond that, The New Avengers is functioning more like a family. They see the flaws in one another, and they choose to love and endorse them anyway. They know that just because they are different, it doesn’t mean they are better or worse than others. The original Avengers had a lot of ego, and while some of that remains in The New Avengers, such as with John Walker, they largely know how to put their own desires to one side for the greater good. Add to that the way these heroes came together in Thunderbolts*, and this team is clearly already a family.