The Avengers have done their avenging in all sorts of locales over the years. While they have all been great in their own right, only The Avengers Mansion has proven to be the greatest time and time again. The team has had a lot of incredible bases over the years.
From compounds to private islands, the Avengers have set up shop wherever they need to. A few have even managed to go above and beyond your standard superhero base fare, like Avengers Mountain and the Lighthouse. Even so, none of these bases really compares to what most fans consider to be the quintessential base. Avengers Mansion is the greatest Avengers base of all time, and it’s not even close.
The Avengers Deserve a Base That’s Equally Iconic
While a base like the Avengers Compound offered the team several benefits, including a great amount of space, it has never felt as iconic as the Avengers Mansion. In the comics, the base was located in Southern California and served as a base of operations for the West Coast Avengers. This obviously differentiates itself from the version audiences have seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is located in upstate New York. Both versions of the compound came equipped with multiple levels.
In the comics, the first floors had living quarters for the team and staff, while the sub-basements and hangars housed high-tech equipment and research labs. The base later became the home of Avengers Academy, a training program founded by Hank Pym for young heroes. All in all, while this base is great, it doesn’t have much that Avengers Mansion doesn’t, and its association with West Coast Avengers and Avengers Academy makes the base feel less specific. Whereas Avengers Mansion has solidified itself as the team’s home.
The Avengers Belong In The Action
In more recent years, the team bases have become objectively cooler as they escalate from one base to the next. Avengers Mountain, the most recent base in the comics, definitely fits that bill. The base is located inside the corpse of Progenitor, a Celestial that died on Earth billions of years ago. The body was modified and repurposed into a working base with the help of Wakandan engineers. It’s located in the Arctic Circle and comes with all the basic accouterments and then some: living quarters, training facilities, and even a time machine. This base is certainly unique and epic, and might even be where the MCU is headed with its next base.
In Eternals, Tiamut is stopped from emerging mid-emerge, which results in a partial emergence of just his head and hand. Which means Tiamut could easily become the MCU version of Avengers Mountain. But even still, way out in the Arctic Circle, this feels too removed. The Avengers’ mansion is located in the heart of one of the biggest cities on Earth. The team defends the world while still living in it.
They know what it’s like to defend New York as New Yorkers themselves. The same goes for Avengers Island. The island base came about when Sunspot bought A.I.M., the terrorist organization, along with all of its toys. He renamed the group as Avenger Idea Mechanics and fixed up the island to serve the Avengers. While just as high-tech and appropriately vacation-y, it is inherently too remote. It feels too far from the action.
A Base Needs to Double as a Home
In an effort to find the perfect base of operations, the Avengers as a whole have never let planetary restrictions get in their way. This is where the Lighthouse comes in. The orbiting satellite headquarters was created by two of the team’s smartest minds, Hank McCoy and Hank Pym, under the orders of Commander Rogers, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time. He created a covert team of Secret Avengers to operate out of this base. This also differentiates itself from the version seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in which the Lighthouse is an underground bunker beneath an actual lighthouse on the shores of Lake Ontario.
The comic book Lighthouse came with a lot of the same bells and whistles that many of the other Avengers bases had, but its main contribution to the team was what it could offer in terms of stealth. The Lighthouse itself was actually shrunk down in space, making it much more inconspicuous.
And in terms of accessing the base, the team used a Pymporter to shrink/transport members on and off the satellite. But ultimately, the Lighthouse, while very cool and even advantageous in its own right, is also cold. It lacks any of the cozy, homey vibes that don’t need to be sacrificed for the sake of having a cool base. The Avengers Mansion manages to serve the team and all of its heroics while simultaneously feeling like a place to rest their heads.
Stark Tower Will Always Be Stark Tower
There’s little doubt that Stark Tower has become the most well-known base in the Avengers canon, thanks in large part to the role it has played in the MCU. Its appearance and importance in The Avengers alone have forever tied the building to the team itself. The comic book version also began in much the same way it did on screen. Tony Stark offered his building as a home and base of operations for the team. It goes without saying that a Stark Industries building has gadgets and gizmos a-plenty, but ultimately, an Avengers base needs more than whozits and whatzits galore.
Stark Tower has been home to several organizations over the years. S.H.I.E.L.D. took over for a time before Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. seized control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and turned the building over to the Dark Avengers. In the MCU, fans have seen the building go from Stark Tower to Avengers Tower to mysteriously owned and operated, and now to the New Avengers Tower, all in what has felt like brief tenures.
That change in ownership throughout both the comics and the MCU makes Stark Tower feel less like the fun revolving door of house guests in a classic Avengers sense, and more like the tower stands on its own as a high-tech building in New York City that can serve the highest bidder. Whereas, Avengers Mansion truly feels like the iconic landmark home base for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Avengers Mansion is the Greatest Avengers Base of All Time, and it’s Not Even Close
Located firmly in New York City, the Avengers Mansion has cemented itself as the Avengers’ base even without an appearance in the MCU thus far. Like Stark Tower, it was originally a Stark residence, but over time, it has been rebuilt and updated to better serve them. The fact that it’s the team’s oldest headquarters has also helped to reinforce its iconic status. Despite multiple instances in which the mansion has been destroyed, like when Vision crashed a Quinjet into the building in Avengers #500, the mansion has always been rebuilt in a way that mirrors the team’s own resilience.
The Mansion, of course, also comes outfitted with everything the team has needed to function at such a high level. The third floor of the building acts as a hangar for various vehicles in the Avengers fleet. The second floor houses the living quarters for the team. The ground floor serves as common areas and is fully equipped with state-of-the-art security and defense systems worthy of the Avengers. Beyond that, sublevels house secure meeting areas, training facilities, and anything the team might need to get the job done.
The Avengers Mansion has also always benefited as a base by being an actual residence where people live. It’s not just a cool high-tech base of operations; it’s unequivocally a home. This goes a long way to communicate that the Avengers are a team. And this team lives together, works together, and fights together to protect the planet. Being a member of the team means that you have a place to live, in community, with other heroes. That level of hospitality goes without saying. There’s no need to explain it. It simply comes as a perk of the mansion. Over the many years of Avengers comics, a plethora of different heroes have taken up residence in the mansion, and they have all helped to keep Earth safe. As a whole, this is exactly what a superhero team’s base needs to offer.
First Film
The Avengers
Latest Film
Avengers: Endgame