History AbortedArc / TheAvengers

** Bendis hinted at a romance between [[ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and [[Characters/{{Daredevil}} Maya Lopez]] in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', even having the two share a passionate kiss. This was completely dropped once Clint's ex-wife ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} returned "from the dead" (it's complicated) at the close of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008''.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'': Earlier issues had dark hints that Slapstick -- a jokey character with ''Looney Tunes''-like powers -- was slowly going insane, like when he [[spoiler:beat Gauntlet into a coma]], or kept a device with the brain patterns of the murderous KIA for some purpose. He actually tries several times to talk about this, almost confessing to [[spoiler:nearly killing the Gauntlet]] to his teammates and mentioning at one point that he can't go back to his SecretIdentity as Steve Harmon anymore -- but every time he does, he either gets interrupted or dismissed as more of his wacky antics. It was an interesting subplot -- that ends up going nowhere, thanks to the events of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' and ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' completely changing the plot of the whole series. We never find out what he does with the brain pattern device, either.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' Season 2 ended with ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/IronMan deciding that they needed to expand the team in order to face bigger threats, and the last shot showed them looking at images of a bunch of potential new recruits like ComicBook/BlackPanther, [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel]], ComicBook/DoctorStrange, and ComicBook/MoonKnight. The Season 3 premiere then opened up with none of these characters as part of the Avengers roster, with ComicBook/TheFalcon offhandedly mentioning that the expansion plan had been canceled. Later episodes did however find ways to incorporate some of the new recruits, but not in the original plan: they were part of a government sponsored team, then later filled in for the original Avengers when they disappeared.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': Due to being canceled after only two seasons, the show had a few of these. Notably, the heavily foreshadowed showdown with Surtur and the Enchantress never took place, and Maria Hill's repeated rants about a [[ComicBook/CivilWar Superhuman Registration Act]] never panned out.

** Bendis hinted at a romance between [[ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and [[Characters/{{Daredevil}} Maya Lopez]] in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', even having the two share a passionate kiss. This was completely dropped once Clint's ex-wife ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}} returned "from the dead" (it's complicated) at the close of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''.

* At the end of ''The Avengers'' #16, the departing Comicbook/IronMan told the new Avengers that they should track down Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk and convince him to rejoin the team, as they currently lacked the raw strength of the original lineup[[note]]As Iron Man, [[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]], and [[Comicbook/AntMan Giant-Man]] all took a collective leave of absence.[[/note]]. Despite the end of the issue promising "The Search for the Hulk!" the following month, issue #17 instead dealt with the Avengers facing the Comicbook/FantasticFour villain Mole Man, with the Hulk subplot essentially being abandoned within the first few pages.
* Near the end of Roger Stern's run, minor ''Comicbook/AlphaFlight'' character Dan Smallwood saw the Avengers on TV, and was shocked to learn his childhood sweetheart Marrina was now a member of the team. According to Stern, this was going to lead to Dan heading to New York and ending up in a LoveTriangle with Marrina and [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]]. Unfortunately, Stern was removed from the book by ExecutiveMeddling, and Creator/WaltSimonson ended up killing off Marrina and writing Namor out of the series in his very first arc.

* Steve Englehart had [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Mantis]] show up an in issue of ''Comicbook/WestCoastAvengers'', apparently suffering from LaserGuidedAmnesia. This was supposed to lead to her becoming a member of the team, but due to Englehart finding out that he was being taken off the book and replaced with Creator/JohnByrne, this had to be dropped. Instead, the story was abruptly resolved two issues later, with the West Coast Avengers learning that "Mantis" was actually a plant simulacrum created by the real deal.
* Creator/KurtBusiek's ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengersKurtBusiek Avengers]]'' run had the team face a powerful villain named Bloodwraith. They were unable to best him, but ComicBook/ScarletWitch managed to bind him to the ruins of Slorenia, making it impossible for him to leave the country's borders. It was mentioned a few issues later that ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} was still monitoring Slorenia to make sure Bloodwraith didn't try anything funny, but Busiek ended up leaving the title before he could revisit that plot thread. The next time Slorenia appeared, absolutely no mention was made of Bloodwraith or where he'd disappeared to.

** Bendis hinted at a romance between [[Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and [[Characters/{{Daredevil}} Maya Lopez]] in ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'', even having the two share a passionate kiss. This was completely dropped once Clint's ex-wife Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}} returned "from the dead" (it's complicated) at the close of ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion''.
** The first arc of the ''Comicbook/HeroicAge'' relaunch of ''Avengers'' had Characters/{{Kang|The Conqueror}} reveal that Tony Stark had thought up a hypothetical doomsday weapon called the dark matter accelerator, which possessed enough power to destroy New York City. At the end of the arc, Tony's counterpart from a BadFuture where Comicbook/{{Ultron}} had wiped out humanity gave the dark matter accelerator to his present day counterpart, telling him to stop Ultron's rise to power no matter what. Despite the accelerator clearly being set up as a ChekhovsGun, it ultimately played no part in the eventual ''Comicbook/AgeOfUltron'' storyline, where Hank Pym wound up being the one to engineer Ultron's demise, not Tony.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'': Earlier issues had dark hints that Slapstick -- a jokey character with ''Looney Tunes''-like powers -- was slowly going insane, like when he [[spoiler:beat Gauntlet into a coma]], or kept a device with the brain patterns of the murderous KIA for some purpose. He actually tries several times to talk about this, almost confessing to [[spoiler:nearly killing the Gauntlet]] to his teammates and mentioning at one point that he can't go back to his SecretIdentity as Steve Harmon anymore -- but every time he does, he either gets interrupted or dismissed as more of his wacky antics. It was an interesting subplot -- that ends up going nowhere, thanks to the events of ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion'' and ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' completely changing the plot of the whole series. We never find out what he does with the brain pattern device, either.

* During a crossover between the ''Comicbook/AvengersAcademy'' and ''Young Allies'', it was hinted that Reptil and Spider-Girl harbored an attraction for one another, and were going to hook up. The problem is, ''Young Allies'' got cancelled after just six issues, so their relationship was nixed with a single HandWave line.
* Near the end of Nick Spencer's ''Comicbook/SecretAvengers'' run, Daisy Johnson was fired from ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} and replaced by Maria Hill. Johnson was later shown recruiting the [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]] for a plot to bring down Hill's regime and expose her shady dealings to the public. The book quickly veered off course into a tie-in to ''Comicbook/{{Infinity}}'' involving one of the new [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhumans]], and abandoned the Daisy subplot before being cancelled. Other titles later established that Daisy and Maria had resolved their differences.
* ''Comicbook/UncannyAvengers''
** During the "Planet X" storyline, Comicbook/TheWasp and Havok had a daughter together named Katie while in the alternate future created by Earth's destruction. Katie was eventually kidnapped by Kang the Conqueror, who used her as leverage to get Havok to play along with his plans. Just prior to ''Comicbook/{{AXIS}}'', Immortus showed up and gave the couple hope by telling them they could get Katie back by conceiving a child at the right date and time, which he claimed would allow Katie to be reborn in the prime timeline. Both Wasp and Havok were written out of the series after ''AXIS'', and the subplot was later abandoned entirely once Remender left the book after ''Comicbook/SecretWars2015''. The romantic relationship between the two was also ended offscreen by subsequent writers, removing any remaining hope for Katie's rebirth.
** Rick Remender's run ended with Comicbook/TheVision learning a horrible secret about Comicbook/ScarletWitch and refusing to divulge it in order to spare her feelings, and the High Evolutionary claiming that his genocidal actions were meant to safeguard the world from some unspecified oncoming threat. Both plot points were dropped when the book was cancelled and relaunched with a new creative team due to the aforementioned ''Secret Wars'' reboot.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': Due to being canceled after only two seasons, the show had a few of these. Notably, the heavily foreshadowed showdown with Surtur and the Enchantress never took place, and Maria Hill's repeated rants about a [[Comicbook/CivilWar Superhuman Registration Act]] never panned out.

AbortedArc in this series.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'': Earlier issues had dark hints that Slapstick -- a jokey character with ''Looney Tunes''-like powers -- was slowly going insane, like when he [[spoiler:beat Gauntlet into a coma]], or kept a device with the brain patterns of the murderous KIA for some purpose. He actually tries several times to talk about this, almost confessing to [[spoiler:nearly killing the Gauntlet]] to his teammates and mentioning at one point that he can't go back to his SecretIdentity as Steve Harmon anymore -- but every time he does, he either gets interrupted or dismissed as more of his wacky antics. It was an interesting subplot -- that ends up going nowhere, thanks to the events of Secret Invasion and Dark Reign completely changing the plot of the whole series. We never find out what he does with the brain pattern device, either.

** The first arc of the ''Comicbook/HeroicAge'' relaunch of ''Avengers'' had Kang reveal that Tony Stark had thought up a hypothetical doomsday weapon called the dark matter accelerator, which possessed enough power to destroy New York City. At the end of the arc, Tony's counterpart from a BadFuture where Comicbook/{{Ultron}} had wiped out humanity gave the dark matter accelerator to his present day counterpart, telling him to stop Ultron's rise to power no matter what. Despite the accelerator clearly being set up as a ChekhovsGun, it ultimately played no part in the eventual ''Comicbook/AgeOfUltron'' storyline, where Hank Pym wound up being the one to engineer Ultron's demise, not Tony.

** The first arc of ''Comicbook/HeroicAge'' relaunch of ''Avengers'' had Kang reveal that Tony Stark had thought up a hypothetical doomsday weapon called the dark matter accelerator, which possessed enough power to destroy New York City. At the end of the arc, Tony's counterpart from a BadFuture where Comicbook/{{Ultron}} had wiped out humanity gave the dark matter accelerator to his present day counterpart, telling him to stop Ultron's rise to power no matter what. Despite the accelerator clearly being set up as a ChekhovsGun, it ultimately played no part in the eventual ''Comicbook/AgeOfUltron'' storyline, where Hank Pym wound up being the one to engineer Ultron's demise, not Tony.

* Creator/KurtBusiek's ''[[Comicbook/AvengersKurtBusiek Avengers]]'' run had the team face a powerful villain named Bloodwraith. They were unable to best him, but ComicBook/ScarletWitch managed to bind him to the ruins of Slorenia, making it impossible for him to leave the country's borders. It was mentioned a few issues later that ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} was still monitoring Slorenia to make sure Bloodwraith didn't try anything funny, but Busiek ended up leaving the title before he could revisit that plot thread. The next time Slorenia appeared, absolutely no mention was made of Bloodwraith or where he'd disappeared to.

* Creator/KurtBusiek's ''[[Comicbook/KurtBusieksAvengerd Avengers]]'' run had the team face a powerful villain named Bloodwraith. They were unable to best him, but ComicBook/ScarletWitch managed to bind him to the ruins of Slorenia, making it impossible for him to leave the country's borders. It was mentioned a few issues later that ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} was still monitoring Slorenia to make sure Bloodwraith didn't try anything funny, but Busiek ended up leaving the title before he could revisit that plot thread. The next time Slorenia appeared, absolutely no mention was made of Bloodwraith or where he'd disappeared to.

* Creator/KurtBusiek's ''Avengers'' run had the team face a powerful villain named Bloodwraith. They were unable to best him, but ComicBook/ScarletWitch managed to bind him to the ruins of Slorenia, making it impossible for him to leave the country's borders. It was mentioned a few issues later that ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} was still monitoring Slorenia to make sure Bloodwraith didn't try anything funny, but Busiek ended up leaving the title before he could revisit that plot thread. The next time Slorenia appeared, absolutely no mention was made of Bloodwraith or where he'd disappeared to.

* Near the end of Roger Stern's run, minor ''Comicbook/AlphaFlight'' character Dan Smallwood saw the Avengers on TV, and was shocked to learn his childhood sweetheart Marrina was now a member of the team. According to Stern, this was going to lead to Dan heading to New York and ending up in a LoveTriangle with Marrina and [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]]. Unfortunately, Stern was removed from the book by ExecutiveMeddling, and Creator/WaltSimonson ended up killing off Marrina in his very first arc.

* Creator/BrianMichaelBendis hinted at a romance between [[Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and [[Characters/{{Daredevil}} Maya Lopez]] in ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'', even having the two share a passionate kiss. This was completely dropped once Clint's ex-wife Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}} returned "from the dead" (it's complicated) at the close of ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion''.

* Near the end of Nick Spencer's ''Comicbook/SecretAvengers'' run, ComicBook/DaisyJohnson was fired from ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} and replaced by ComicBook/MariaHill. Johnson was later shown recruiting the [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]] for a plot to bring down Hill's regime and expose her shady dealings to the public. The book quickly veered off course into a tie-in to ''Comicbook/{{Infinity}}'' involving one of the new [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhumans]], and abandoned the Daisy subplot before being cancelled. Other titles later established that Daisy and Maria had resolved their differences.

* The New Avengers at the end of ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' were hyped up as a replacement roster because of Tony retiring, Hulk going missing and Thor leaving to look for the Infinity Stones. They proceeded to do one onscreen mission in Civil War which lead to the epynonmous conflict and then quietly disappeared until ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' 3 years later.

!!''Franchise/TheAvengers''

* Steve Englehart had [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Mantis]] show up an in issue of ''Comicbook/WestCoastAvengers'', apparently suffering from LaserGuidedAmnesia. This was supposed to lead to her becoming a member of the team, but due to Englehart finding out that he was being taken off the book and replaced with Creator/JohnByrne, this had to be dropped. Instead, the story was abruptly resolved two issues later, with the West Coast Avengers learning that "Mantis" was actually a plant simulacrum created by the real deal.

* Steve Englehart had Comicbook/{{Mantis|Marvel Comics}} show up an in issue of ''Comicbook/WestCoastAvengers'', apparently suffering from LaserGuidedAmnesia. This was supposed to lead to her becoming a member of the team, but due to Englehart finding out that he was being taken off the book and replaced with Creator/JohnByrne, this had to be dropped. Instead, the story was abruptly resolved two issues later, with the West Coast Avengers learning that "Mantis" was actually a plant simulacrum created by the real deal.

** [[CanonForeigner Aaron Reece]], aka Molecule Kid from the same-titled Season 1 episode. At the end of the episode, he (and Fury) are convinced that he should join up with Fury's SHIELD. Academy Hero Program, the same one that [[WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}} Spider-Man]] is in. Despite him departing with Fury in the end, and despite a rather powerful and emotion-filled episode introducing the character, Aaron is nowhere to be seen or heard after the episode ends. Not even the 3rd and 4th seasons of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' which expands the hero count and even shifts focus to the Academy's HQ [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse sees any hide or hair of Aaron]].

* Creator/BrianMichaelBendis hinted at a romance between [[Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and [[ComicBook/{{Echo|MarvelComics}} Maya Lopez]] in ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'', even having the two share a passionate kiss. This was completely dropped once Clint's ex-wife Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}} returned "from the dead" (it's complicated) at the close of ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion''.

** Rick Remender's run ended with Comicbook/TheVision learning a horrible secret about Comicbook/ScarletWitch and refusing to divulge it in order to spare her feelings, and the High Evolutionary claiming that his genocidal actions were meant to safeguard the world from some unspecified oncoming threat. Both plot points were dropped when the book was cancelled and relaunched with a new creative team due to the aforementioned ''Secret Wars'' reboot.

* Creator/BrianMichaelBendis hinted at a romance between [[Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and Echo in ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'', even having the two share a passionate kiss. This was completely dropped once Clint's ex-wife Comicbook/{{Mockingbird}} returned "from the dead" (it's complicated) at the close of ''Comicbook/SecretInvasion''.

* During a crossover between the ''Comicbook/AvengersAcademy'' and ''Young Allies'', it was hinted that Reptil and Spider-Girl harbored an attraction for one another, and were going to hook up. The problem is, ''Young Allies'' got cancelled after just six issues, so their relationship was nixed with a single HandWave line.