Black Widow

The only female on this list, it says a lot about the character of Black Widow AKA Natalia Romanova that she is able to break on to it – especially given that she’s only been a member of the Avengers since 1973’s Avengers #111.

The former Russian spy and assassin offers the team something that very few other characters can – extremely brilliant espionage and spying skills – but the fact that she’s so skilled in combat that she can hang with superhumans helps quite a bit too!

Played by Scarlett Johansson, the character first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2010’s Iron Man 2 – and she has gone on to appear in both Avengers movies (and Captain America: The Winter Soldier) since then. She will be an important on screen Avengers for years to come.