The death of the worst Avenger

[iamrman]

Giant-Size Avengers #2, by Englehart and Cockrum.

Avengers #130, by Englehart, Sal Buscema and Joe Staton.

Even the narration thinks the Swordsman is a loser. Oof.

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

I don't see Doctor Druid here anywhere.

[iamrman]

He's around the corner in a dumpster on fire.

[zachbeacon]

I maintain that Doctor Droom (eventually Dr Druid) originally had an amazing character hook*...that just doesn't work within the context of the larger Marvel universe. Weird cultural appropriation aside, I don't think he's an inherently bad character but he has no place with the Avengers.

*Professor skeptic who is actually covering up the existence of the supernatural.


And surely Sentry is the worst Avenger.

[beyondthefringe]

I also could have said Silverclaw or Deathcry. :)

And yeah. I know that the addition of Druid to the cast was to give them their own version of Winchester from M*A*S*H but he never really gelled into the mix... and then the Stern run got horrendously hijacked by the editorial mandate to slowly disassemble the team, remove Monica, and so forth, and in the process Druid became a mind-controlled patsy and basically ruined.

But he was still definitely in the running for Worst Avenger even when he was still on the team, and history has not been kind.

Swordsman wasn't that bad, he just had a lot of issues and never fully rose to the challenge of heroism. Though to be fair... well, no one using that name has particularly distinguished themselves. The extra-dimensional version from the Gatherers arc? Pfft. Andreas Strucker? Pffft.

[zachbeacon]

I meant "Professional skeptic" but autocorrect had other ideas.

[iamrman]

I wish to retract my earlier statement. Maybe the Swordsman wasn't quite as bad as I thought. I do notice that nobody trued to correct me about Deathcry though. What even were her powers? Distilled 90's bullshit?

[bravest_spinja]

"Worst Avenger, Commander Tier" since the records will show that he was the leader of the Avengers, for all five minutes.

[bruinsfan]

Careful—you might remind a Marvel writer of his existence and get him turned into one of Kang's many alternate identities. He has the same facial hair as Immortus, and the pattern baldness could explain all the outlandish hats!

[remial]

did they ever release the Dr. Druid reboot they were planning in like the late 80's?

they were going to change his wardrobe, give him hair, and...

honestly I don't remember, the said a bunch of buzz words about new direction, elemental powers, and something about making him relivent to todays audience

[shadowpsykie]

Where is Quicksilver? promises were made...

[scorntx]

Well, since people have already done the Dr. Druid / Quicksilver jokes, we can skip ahead a little.

Damn, narration! It's the man's funeral!
Even Claremont Narration isn't that dickish.
Usually.

[iamrman]

I might as well throw in Deathcry to save people the time. If I have to remember that era of the Avengers, everybody else has to.

[shadowpsykie]

jesus that IS a dickish narrator

[phantomfo]

Claremont would have referred to him as a focused totality of loserdom.

[icon_uk]

As someone who spent over twenty years having to see one of their absolute favourites appear on every single damned article and, later, listicle, of "Crappiest mutant powers we should mock", I feel someone should stand up for the Swordsman here.

Admittedly I'm not helped by the narration here, or Swordsman's self image which makes Doug's seem like a granite pillar of self-confidence, and especially by my complete lack of knowledge as to who Swordsman even is, but darnit I think I have to try. He was a hero, I have to assume, and he did die in a probably noble cause. so good for him!

[iamrman]

And at least the Avengers actually cared that the Swordsman died.

[beyondthefringe]

I'm right there with you in being one of the earliest and longest-standing champions of Our Guy Doug Ramsey.
The problem wasn't that his power was useless or weak or mockworthy, it's that writers couldn't think of ways to make him shine in a comics medium.

Which is -weird- when you consider that the original team had TWO psychics (Dani and Xuan) to contrast against werewolf, super-strength, and nigh-invulnerable flying. Doug's master of linguistics, and his computer hacker expertise (clearly an unrealized extension of his power) could have been highly useful even outside of his friendship with the alien robot metamorph.

(of course, they lost Xuan and gained Illyana and Amara before they got Doug and Warlock... and demon sorceress teleporter and lava control are much more dynamic powers...)

But no... "he's weak and all he can do is understand languages" earned him a death sentence as the team slowly headed towards the '90s and *shudder* Liefeld and X-Force.

While there are indeed bad powers, there are also writers who just lack the ability to use weak powers properly...
(obligatory mention of Jeremy Bottroff's "Go West" fanfic as a very early example of Doug done right...)

[starwolf_oakley]

Swordsman was mentioned in EMPYRE. By the Coati that was animating his body and by Black Panther.

Paraphrasing.
Coati: I really am Jacques Duquesne, a filthy human filled with corruption and self-loating!
Black Panther: Jacques Duquesne had his problems, but he wasn't a monster. He was an Avenger!

[donnblake]

Hey, Jacques was so good at swords that he trained the age's greatest archer! Somehow...

(I think they retconned in an archer mentor for Clint later).

[beyondthefringe]

They did. Trick Shot. Clint had not one but two mentors who were criminals. Go figure.

[zachbeacon]

What are arrows if not funny looking swords?

[bradygirl_12]

No one is a loser, Swordsman, not if you try to be better and you did.

[sabertoothlotus]

Anybody esle distracted by Iron Man having a nose? No? Just me? Ok, then.

[icon_uk]

Remember the old scans_daily rule: "It's NEVER just you"

[scorntx]

I would be distracted if I didn't keep blocking it out every time I...
...
sorry, what were we talking about?