In honour of Hollywood blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron out in theatres this weekend, we decided to have a little fun and figure out who the Avengers of the sporting world would be.
Please note we’ve only taken the original six Avengers from the first film. Also, we only selected from athletes currently playing (with apologies to Cal Ripken Jr.).
Captain America – Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Clean cut. Natural leader. Cool under pressure. Never breaks the rules (sort of).
These are all perfect ways to describe New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his Avengers counterpart Captain America.
As the unofficial captain of the Avengers, it just makes sense that Steve Rogers’ sports equivalent is a big-time American quarterback, so the NFL’s golden boy is a natural fit.
Thor – LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Yes, we get it. Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews looks almost exactly like Thor, but when it comes down to it, LeBron James better exemplifies a Norse God of Thunder.
Think of it this way: as a god, no mortal could ever hope to challenge Thor in combat. Similarly, while out on the basketball court, it oftentimes seems as if no mortal could ever hope to stop the Cavaliers star.
Additionally, Thor is super strong, is very athletic and can fly with some help of his trusty hammer Mjölnir. James also appears to convey superhuman strength, is unfairly athletic and looks like he’s flying with the ball whenever he goes up for one of his thunderous dunks (see what we did there?).
Iron Man – Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
While it’s true we probably could’ve found a player with an actual iron man streak, we saw Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout as Tony Stark because of the type of player he is.
Trout is a true five-tool star and that works very well with the sheer amount of firepower that’s packed into that Iron Man suit. So just like enemies can’t stop all of the destructive goodies Stark has hiding in his suit, no one in baseball can completely stop Trout from impacting the game in some way.
Hawkeye – Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
This one’s pretty easy. One of the first words that pops into anyone’s minds when Tampa Bay Lightning centre Steven Stamkos is mentioned is “sniper.”
And the last time we checked, Hawkeye is a pretty accurate sniper in his own right, what with him being the only dude on the team taking on evil alien and robot hordes with just a freaking bow and arrow! Seriously, how awesome is this guy to keep up when he’s fighting with one of the most primitive weapons?
Besides, when’s the last time you saw an NHL player score 60 in a season, like Stamkos did in 2011-12?
Black Widow – Ronda Rousey, UFC Bantamweight Champion
Natasha Romanova, A.K.A. The Black Widow, is a highly-trained former Soviet spy skilled in hand-to-hand combat. If you remove the “Soviet spy” part, you basically have UFC champion Ronda Rousey.
Taking it a step further, you have to wonder who would actually win in a fight between these two? Our money’s on “Rowdy.”
The Incredible Hulk – Hulk, Zenit Saint Petersburg
Do we really need to explain this?
