History YMMV / AvengersTheInitiative

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: While MVP is an effective DecoyProtagonist whose death in the first issue is pretty plot-relevant, plenty of fans wish that he'd lived and remained a main character due to his being a BadassNormal NiceGuy descended from the creator of the Captain America serum.

** The most notable is in #26. We're introduced to a couple of D-list villains, Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax, whose only claim to fame is that they'd once fought Dazzler. After being recruited into the Shadow Initiative, Johnny learns that they're nothing more than cannon fodder, and their superiors are going to be intentionally sending them on suicide missions without the knowledge of the recruits. [[spoiler:Going to visit Trauma, he learns that because of the way benefits and pensions are written, his family that he's estranged from will be well taken care of in the event of his dying in the line of duty. He decides to go through with it, but not before intentionally injuring Doc (doing so in a cruel way to avoid anyone from being suspicious) so he'll be sent home, and thus spared. Johnny's killed in the fight to reclaim Prison 42, and his and other deaths,]] as well as the sudden arrival of the 'big names' of the Initiative right at the end of the battle, suddenly make the rest of his unit aware of ''exactly'' what they are to their bosses.

** The most notable is in #26. We're introduced to a couple of D-list villains, Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax, whose only claim to fame is that they'd once fought Dazzler. After being recruited into the Shadow Initiative, Johnny learns that they're nothing more than cannon fodder, and their superiors are going to be intentionally sending them on suicide missions without the knowledge of the recruits. [[spoiler: Going to visit Trauma, he learns that because of the way benefits and pensions are written, his family that he's estranged from will be well taken care of in the event of his dying in the line of duty. He decides to go through with it, but not before intentionally injuring Doc (doing so in a cruel way to avoid anyone from being suspicious) so he'll be sent home, and thus spared. Johnny's killed in the fight to reclaim Prison 42, and his and other deaths,]] as well as the sudden arrival of the 'big names' of the Initiative right at the end of the battle, suddenly make the rest of his unit aware of ''exactly'' what they are to their bosses.

** Armory. She lived in a foster home that left her with lasting trauma in the form of severe arachnophobia and suffered from depression that eventually led to her being DrivenToSuicide. Things seemed to be looking up for her after the Tactigon bonded to her (saving her life in the process), but Trauma ended up triggering her arachnophobia, leading to her accidentally killing [=MVP=], the Tactigon getting forcibly removed from her body, and her getting locked in a mental institute and monitored by a doctor on Gyrich's payroll so she won't tell anyone what happened to her. Poor girl ''really'' needs a hug.

%%** Armory.

* TheScrappy: 3-D Man got a lot of flack for arbitrarily killing The Crusader simply on the basis of him being a Skrull, never mind that Crusader was ''helping'' the Avengers. This act also made him something of an in-universe example, as Crusdaer's friends and teammates all visibly hate him.

** The most notable is in #26. We're introduced to a couple of D-list villains, Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax, whose only claim to fame is that they'd once fought Dazzler. After being recruited into the Shadow Initiative, Johnny learns that they're nothing more than cannon fodder, and their superiors are going to be intentionally sending them on suicide missions without the knowledge of the recruits. [[spoiler: Going to visit Trauma, he learns that because of the way benefits and pensions are written, his family that he's estranged from will be well taken care of in the event of his dying in the line of duty. He decides to go through with it, but not before intentionally injuring Doc so he'll be sent home, and thus spared. Johnny's killed in the fight to reclaim Prison 42, and his and other deaths,]] as well as the sudden arrival of the 'big names' of the Initiative right at the end of the battle, suddenly make the rest of his unit aware of ''exactly'' what they are to their bosses.

* TheScrappy: 3-D Man got a lot of flack for arbitrarily killing The Crusader simply on the basis of him being a Skrull, never mind that Crusader was ''helping'' the Avengers.

* WhatAnIdiot
** Gauntlet repeatedly insulting the New Warriors right in front of their former friends. Did he honestly expect that none of them would react at all?
** Black Widow training Cloud 9 how to snipe someone, then wondering why she's unable to focus.
** Gyrich insulting Iron Man, his direct superior, to his face. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This gets his ass fired.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: At the beginning of the book, there’s a few examples of people talking smack about Hydra and considering them to be both ineffectual and practically harmless. Now, several years later, [[ComicBook/SecretEmpire Secret Empire]] happened. It can be pretty jarring to go back and read this book featuring people mocking Hydra and dismissing them as a minor threat after reading Secret Empire, especially when considering the heroes that were killed by Hydra during the event.

** Gyrich insulting Iron Man, his direct superior, to his face. [[RealityEnsues This gets his ass fired.]]

* TearJerker: Several. The most notable is in #26. We're introduced to a couple of D-list villains, Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax, whose only claim to fame is that they'd once fought Dazzler. After being recruited into the Shadow Initiative, Johnny learns that they're nothing more than cannon fodder, and their superiors are going to be intentionally sending them on suicide missions without the knowledge of the recruits. [[spoiler: Going to visit Trauma, he learns that because of the way benefits and pensions are written, his family that he's estranged from will be well taken care of in the event of his dying in the line of duty. He decides to go through with it, but not before intentionally injuring Doc so he'll be sent home, and thus spared. Johnny's killed in the fight to reclaim Prison 42, and his and other deaths,]] as well as the sudden arrival of the 'big names' of the Initiative right at the end of the battle, suddenly make the rest of his unit aware of ''exactly'' what they are to their bosses.

* HarsherInHindsight: At the beginning of the book, there’s a few examples of people talking smack about Hydra and considering them to be both innefectual and practically harmless. Now, several years later, [[ComicBook/SecretEmpire Secret Empire]] happened. It can be pretty jarring to go back and read this book featuring people mocking Hydra and dismissing them as a minor threat after reading Secret Empire, especially when considering the heroes that were killed by Hydra during the event.

** Cloud 9 goes from a sweet, innocent little girl who is broken down from all the horrible things that happen at Camp Hammond into a sniper. Simply because she wanted to fly...
** Armory.

** Gyrich insulting Iron Man, his direct superior, to his face.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny:
** Henry Gyrich versus [[TheScrappy Sally Floyd]]. Gyrich loses, both times.
** Gyrich describing the usual means of getting superpowers (lab accidents, time-warps, radiation) as "the way God intented (for people to get superpowers)"

* EnsembleDarkhorse: {{Taskmaster}}.

* TheWoobie: Cloud 9 goes from a sweet, innocent little girl who is broken down from all the horrible things that happen at Camp Hammond into a sniper. Simply because she wanted to fly...

* TearJerker: Several. The Most notable is in #26. We're introduced to a couple of D-list villains, Johnny Guitar and Doctor Sax, whose only claim to fame is that they'd once fought Dazzler. After being recruited into the Shadow Initiative, Johnny learns that they're nothing more than cannon fodder, and their superiors are going to be intentionally sending them on suicide missions without the knowledge of the recruits. [[spoiler: Going to visit Trauma, he learns that because of the way benefits and pensions are written, his family that he's estranged from will be well taken care of in the event of his dying in the line of duty. He decides to go through with it, but not before intentionally injuring Doc so he'll be sent home, and thus spared. Johnny's killed in the fight to reclaim Prison 42, and his and other deaths,]] as well as the sudden arrival of the 'big names' of the Initiative right at the end of the battle, suddenly make the rest of his unit aware of ''exactly'' what they are to their bosses.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: {{Taskmaster}}
* ObviousJudas: The problem when some unidentified person attacked Gauntlet and left him in a coma, is that ''everybody'' was an obvious judas. Everybody hated him, everybody would have wanted to do it, everybody has surely promised "IllKillYou!" at some point... in fact, if the attacker didn't wrote "NW" in Gauntlet's chest with his own blood, all the recruits would have been jailed as suspects, and not just the former New Warriors.

* ObviousJudas: The problem when some unidentified person attacked Gauntlet and left him in a coma, is that ''everybody'' was an obvious judas. Everybody hated him, everybody would have wanted to do it, everybody has surely promised "IllKillYou!" at some point... in fact, if the attacker didn't wrote "NW" in Gauntlet's chest with his own blood, all the recluits would have been jailed as suspects, and not just the former New Warriors.

* BreakTheCutie: Cloud 9 during the first thirteen issues.

* TearJerker: Several, but the death of [[spoiler: Johnny Guitar, a Z-list Dazzler Villain]] manages to have more pathos to it than many comic book deaths of major characters in the same decade.