One would think attacking the base of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would be at the bottom of a villain’s to-do list – it’s not the case. Regardless of the location of the Avengers’ headquarters, their enemies have found ways to both infiltrate it and destroy it. Here are four times Avengers HQ turned to rubble at the hands of the Avengers’ foes.

Under Siege

Avengers Mansion served as the first headquarters for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes after it was donated to them by Tony Stark. (We can split hairs by saying he technically gave it to himself, but why get into specifics?) Despite its appearance, Avengers Mansion is one of the most fortified structures in the world. It makes sense that it took the combined efforts of the Masters of Evil, led by Baron Zemo, to attack the mansion and take it over.

Their siege not only resulted in the mansion being destroyed but almost cost the Avengers the lives of both Edwin Jarvis and Hercules. Captain America was the most emotionally impacted. Avengers Mansion was his first home after being revived, and during the chaos, Baron Zemo damaged multiple personal items of Cap’s, including his original shield and the only picture of his mother.

Disassembled

When the body of a resurrected Jack of Hearts’ exploded, it destroyed Avengers Mansion and took the life of Scott Lang (so we thought). A subsequent attack by Vision led to the hospitalization of Wasp and Captain Britain. Hawkeye died giving his life to stop a Kree Warship. That was one bad week. It turned out that Scarlet Witch was behind all the attacks, having been driven insane from years of anguish. She was an evil mutant, an Avenger, the wife to a synthezoid, and the mother to two magically created children formed from the soul of Mephisto.  

Later, Doctor Doom took credit for mind-controlling Scarlet Witch into doing all of that harm, but even if that were true, the lasting effects of her actions have lasted to the present day. At least if Avengers Mountain does fall at the hands of Malekith, there won’t be the emotional trauma of having it destroyed by one of their own.

Acts of Vengeance

The world’s greatest Super Villains – Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Wizard, Mandarin, and Red Skull – were brought together by Loki in an attempt to catch Marvel’s heroes off guard by “changing opponents” as it were. Each villain would attack a hero they never faced. Loki then manipulated each member of the group into thinking they were its leader.

As part of their plan, Doctor Doom sent an army of robots to attack Avengers Island, the team’s new headquarters in New York. They attacked the tubes keeping the island afloat and were successfully able to sink the entire island. Not only was Avengers Mountain a “gutted” Celestial, but it was also going to take a lot more than cutting flotation tubes to make it fall into the ground. On the second examination, Avengers Island was not the best idea.

World War Hulk

When the Illuminati sent the Hulk into outer space, their intention was for him to live out his days on a peaceful planet. Instead, the ship crashed on Sakaar, and the events of PLANET HULK transpired. After finally finding the peace he had long sought after, the ship that brought him to Sakaar exploded, killing his wife. Blaming the Illuminati, Hulk and his Warbound returned to Earth seeking revenge. After disposing of Black Bolt, Hulk went to Manhattan where he confronted Iron Man and his latest Hulkbuster armor. Not only did Hulk defeat Iron Man, but he destroyed Avengers Tower in the process. Thanks to Avengers Mountain, an attack would no longer consistently put the citizens of New York in harm’s way. Heck, it would take an army of Dark Elves to warrant that same kind of… oh, right.