The Dark Avengers are the perfect opposite of the cult superhero team, the Avengers proper, with several personal Avengers villains making up a villainous copy. But one thing always stood out as a bit crooked, as the name “Dark Avengers” never fully reflected the insidious nature of the gang. At least, not like another, cooler nickname — the one that came up with the Wolverine version of the Dark Avengers.
The Dark Avengers first appeared in Dark Avengers #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato. The team of villains was created under the leadership of Norman Osborn, who came to power after the failure of the “Secret Invasion”, when the world lost faith in superheroes and turned to Osborne for protection and safety, despite his villainous past. In this new squad, each Avengers hero was replaced by a villainous counterpart who assumed the identity of their designated hero. Bullseye pretended to be Hawkeye, Venom acted as Spider-Man, and Daken took on the role of Wolverine. After a while, the Dark Avengers fell, and the original, heroic version of the team returned to its former glory. However, Osborne soon tried to revive his band of villains with an entirely new cast of characters, including a brand new Dark Wolverine, who was apparently as inventive as he was deadly.
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In The New Avengers #19 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato, the new Avengers cast takes center stage after Captain America passes the baton to Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Spider-Man, Creature, Wolverine and Iron Fist. a little bit. However, the heroes know little about the fact that another team of “Avengers” is also rising, as Norman Osborn has found a way to escape from prison and regain a piece of his former glory. Osborne tapped his connections to a number of different villain factions around the world, including The Hand, Hydra, TARGET, and HAMMER, and used their resources as well as their warriors to relaunch his Dark Avengers initiative with brand new, albeit equally deadly villains. . The new Dark Wolverine—since Daken was no longer available to Osborn—was Tomi Shishido, also known as Gorgon. Gorgon is Wolverine’s longtime villain, linked to the Hand and Hydra, so his participation in Osborne’s new “Dark Avengers” as Wolverine is absolutely perfect — almost as perfect as the alternative name he came up with for the team: The Devil’s Avengers.
Gorgon tells Osborne that he wants to join his “Devil Avengers”, and Osborne happily agrees, without even taking a minute to evaluate how much better “Devil Avengers” as a title than “Dark Avengers”. In The Dark Avengers, the team sounds like it’s made up of superheroes who are more in line with antiheroism than villainy, like the Midnight Suns or the Wild Avengers. This supposed connection stems from other “dark” superhero teams in other universes, including the Dark Justice League, which consists not of villains but of darker superheroes. Nevertheless, the name “Devil’s Avengers” fully reflects the essence of the team exactly as it is. Every member of the Dark Avengers is a villain of the hero they emulate, including and especially Gorgon. These villains are the personal devils of their heroes, and they have come to replace the good that these heroes have brought into the world with their perverted and insidious evil.
The name “Devil’s Avengers” also works on another level, as the team collectively offers the world a false promise by their very existence. These villains pretend to be heroes, but in reality it’s just a facade to make people trust them, and in return they will bring evil and chaos. “The Devil’s Avengers” works on several levels, but most of all— as Wolverine from “The Dark Avengers” will agree— it’s just a cooler nickname.
