Ranking the LEGO Avengers movie tie-in waves

The first assortment of LEGO Avengers: Doomsday sets is almost here, but how does it compare to previous Avengers tie-in waves?

The LEGO Group has just pulled back the curtain on its Avengers: Doomsday launch wave, which consists of five sets: a BrickHeadz four-pack, a bust and three playsets. It’s the fifth Avengers movie to date and the fifth to get a full wave of LEGO Marvel sets in time for its cinematic debut, following Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

But as a first taste of Doomsday, how does this wave stack up to the rest? We’ve put them all under the microscope to come up with our ranking of the launch waves, which are often restricted by things like working from concept art and avoiding spoilers. This list therefore doesn’t take into account later releases for any of these movies.

5 – Avengers: Infinity War

The third Avengers movie – and the first of a one-two punch between this and Endgame – enjoyed a comprehensive launch wave of six LEGO Marvel playsets, which debuted on March 3, 2018. And honestly, it’s not a bad mix: 76101 Outrider Dropship Attack offered an affordable way to get a couple of main characters (Captain America and Black Widow); 76107 Thanos: Ultimate Battle built on the strong work of previous Milanos; and 76108 Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown would fit right in with the current mini-modulars.

At the same time, 76104 The Hulkbuster Smash-Up hasn’t aged particularly well (much better Hulkbusters have come along since, and the big turret is… erm… yeah); 76103 Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack is just a wall and a saw; and 76102 Thor's Weapon Quest is at its best when you spend an extra £70 on the Benatar it connects with. A mixed bag on the whole, then.

4 – Avengers Assemble

The launch wave for Avengers Assemble (or The Avengers in some regions) was also the launch wave for LEGO Marvel Super Heroes as a whole, and while some of its sets are pretty dated now they did a great job at introducing us to this franchise. The Quinjet holds up surprisingly well and features a solid minifigure roster, while 6867 Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape is a pretty decent build for its initial price of £19.99.

6868 Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout feels typical of early superhero fare – a few platforms, a puny jet and not a lot of pieces for the price, given the bigfig – while the minifigure designs aren’t necessarily the most detailed, even if they do feel charmingly retro now. Just four sets feels a bit limited, too.

3 – Avengers: Age of Ultron

The LEGO Marvel team ramped things up a notch for Age of Ultron in 2015, bringing six sets to the table that checked off pretty much every Avengers icon you’d want: a Hulkbuster, a Quinjet, Avengers Tower… This wave earns points too for its wide cast of characters, spanning the main crew alongside Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, multiple Ultron forms, Iron Legion bots, Hydra Troopers and even Baron von Strucker.

Time has been kind to these sets in some ways but not others: the Hulkbuster and Quinjet have both been done better since, and while 76038 Attack on Avengers Tower is a fun playset, the stickers (and subsequently split Avengers logo) don’t do it many favours. 76041 The Hydra Fortress Smash was also a limited release that retired quickly and saw Quicksilver’s value spike for years afterwards.

2 – Avengers: Doomsday

LEGO Marvel as a theme has come a long way these past (nearly) 15 years, and for Avengers: Doomsday it's delivering perhaps the most varied Avengers launch wave to date. Three playsets are accompanied by a brick-built bust and a quartet of BrickHeadz characters, and there are some real high points among these models.

Take the minifigures, for example, which are almost all a step up over previous versions, between them sporting leg printing, arm printing, dual-moulded legs and new double-sided heads. 76348 Epic Battle: Avengers: Doomsday looks genuinely excellent all round, while 76347 Avengers: Doomsday Quinjet cuts out the side builds to give us our most affordable Quinjet playset yet.

76352 Avengers: Doomsday New Avengers Tower may not be as iconic as the O.G. tower but still delivers a detailed build with fun minifigures, and 76345 Doctor Doom Bust is a satisfying and convincing recreation of the main baddie. Imagine if we got a Thanos bust with Infinity War? Still, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows: the cheapest playset comes in at £54.99, and there are only three of them… 

1 – Avengers: Endgame

Which brings us to the number one spot on the list, and for many people it probably corresponds with their favourite Avengers film, too. Endgame was certainly the most highly-anticipated of them all, and the LEGO Group found plenty of mileage in its launch wave even while trying to avoid spoilers – something that Doomsday’s debut assortment may suffer from to some degree (we’ll find out this December).

There are only five sets here but they represent (for the most part) quality over quantity. 76123 Captain America: Outriders Attack is the weakest of the bunch from a build perspective but was a relatively cheap army builder at £19.99, while the rest are all enjoyable builds that combine Avengers icons – a Quinjet, Iron Man’s Hall of Armour – with a fresh twist on a familiar fave in 76124 War Machine Buster and a packed playset in 76131 Avengers Compound Battle.

The minifigures are probably the low point here given they mostly share the same torso and legs design (the white ‘time suit’), but there are exceptions – Captain Marvel, Iron Man and his various armours, Hulk – and collecting a unified roster of Endgame-themed characters was still pretty satisfying back in 2019. For our money this was peak Avengers launch wave, but let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Head here for a closer look at the Doomsday launch wave, or hit the links in the table below to see them at LEGO.com. They’re all available to pre-order now in the UK and Europe, while 76345 Doctor Doom Bust is up for pre-order in the US.

LEGO Avengers: Doomsday sets

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