Avengers (comics)

Publication history

The team debuted in The Avengers #1 (Sept. 1963). Much like the Justice League, the Avengers were an assemblage of pre-existing superhero characters created by Lee and Jack Kirby. This initial series, published bi-monthly through issue #6 (July 1964) and monthly thereafter ran through issue #402 (Sept. 1996), with spinoffs including several annuals, miniseries and a giant-size quarterly sister series that ran briefly in the mid-1970s.

Other spinoff series include West Coast Avengers, initially published as a four-issue miniseries in 1984, followed by a 102-issue series (Oct. 1985–Jan. 1994), retitled Avengers West Coast with #47; and the 40-issue Solo Avengers (Dec.1987–Jan. 1991), retitled Avengers Spotlight with #21.

Between 1996 and 2004, Marvel relaunched the primary Avengers title three times. In 1996, the "Heroes Reborn" line took place in an alternate universe, with a revamped history unrelated to mainstream Marvel continuity.

The Avengers vol. 3 relaunched and ran for 84 issues from February 1998 to August 2004. To coincide with what would have been the 500th issue of the original series, Marvel changed the numbering, and The Avengers #500-503 (Sept.– Dec. 2004), the one-shot Avengers Finale (Jan. 2005) became the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline and final issues. In January 2005, a new version of the team appeared in the ongoing title The New Avengers, followed by The Mighty Avengers, Avengers: The Initiative, and Dark Avengers. Avengers vol. 4 debuted in July 2010 and ran until January 2013. Vol. 5 was launched in February 2013. After Secret Wars, a new Avengers team debuted, dubbed the All-New, All-Different Avengers, starting with a Free Comic Book Day preview.

1960s

When the Asgardian god Loki seeks revenge against his brother Thor, his machinations unwittingly lead teenager Rick Jones to collect Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man to help Thor and the Hulk, whom Loki used as a pawn. After the group vanquished Loki, Ant-Man stated that the five worked well together and suggested they form a team; the Wasp named the group Avengers.

The roster changed almost immediately; at the beginning of the second issue, Ant-Man became Giant-Man, and at the end of the issue, the Hulk left once he realized how much the others feared his unstable personality. Captain America soon joined the team in issue #4, and he was given "founding member" status in the Hulk's place. The Avengers went on to fight foes such as Baron Zemo, who formed the Masters of Evil, Kang the Conqueror, Wonder Man, and Count Nefaria.

The next milestone came when every member but Captain America resigned; they were replaced by three former villains: Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver. Giant-Man, now calling himself Goliath, and the Wasp rejoined. Hercules became part of the team, while the Black Knight, and the Black Widow, abetted the Avengers but did not become members until years later. Spider-Man was offered membership but did not join the group. The Black Panther joined after rescuing the team from the Grim Reaper and Klaw. The X-Men #45 (June 1968) featured a crossover with The Avengers #53 (June 1968). This was followed by the introduction of the android the Vision. Pym assumed the new identity of Yellowjacket in issue #59, and married the Wasp the following month.

The Avengers headquarters was in a New York City building called Avengers Mansion, courtesy of Tony Stark (Iron Man's real identity). The mansion was serviced by Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers' faithful butler, and furnished with state of the art technology and defense systems, and included the Avengers' primary mode of transport: the five-engine Quinjet.

The prequel comic Avengers #1 1/2 (Dec. 1999), by writer Roger Stern and artist Bruce Timm, told a retro-style story taking place between issues #1 and #2, detailing Ant-Man's decision to transform himself into Giant-Man.

1970s

The team encountered new characters such as Arkon in issue #75 (April 1970), and Red Wolf in #80 (Sept. 1970). The team's adventures increased in scope as the team crossed into an alternate dimension and battled the Squadron Supreme, and fought in the Kree-Skrull War, an epic battle between the alien Kree and Skrull races and guest-starred the Kree hero, Captain Marvel. The Avengers briefly disband when Skrulls impersonating Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man used their authority as founders of the team and disbanded it. The true founding Avengers, minus the Wasp, reformed the team in response after complaints from Jarvis.

Mantis joined the team along with the reformed Swordsman. "The Avengers-Defenders Clash" storyline crossed over between the two team titles. "The Celestial Madonna" arc linked Mantis' origins to the very beginnings of the Kree-Skrull conflict in a time-spanning adventure involving Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus, who were past and future versions of each other. Mantis was revealed to be the Celestial Madonna, who was destined to give birth to a being that would save the universe. It was revealed that the Vision's body had only been appropriated, and not created by Ultron, and that it originally belonged to the 1940s Human Torch. With his origins clear to him, the Vision proposed to the Scarlet Witch. The "Celestial Madonna" saga ended with their wedding, presided over by Immortus. The Beast and Moondragon joined the team soon after. A seven-part story featured the Squadron Supreme and the Serpent Crown.

Other classic storylines included "The Bride of Ultron", the "Nefaria Trilogy", and "The Korvac Saga", which featured nearly every Avenger who joined the team up to that point. Henry Peter Gyrich became the Avengers' liaison to the United States National Security Council. Gyrich was prejudiced against superhumans and acted in a heavy-handed, obstructive manner, and insisted that the Avengers followed government rules and regulations or else lose their priority status with the government. Among Gyrich's demands was that the active roster be trimmed down to only seven members, and that the Falcon, an African American, be admitted to the team to comply with affirmative action laws. This last act was resented by Hawkeye, who because of the seven-member limit lost his membership slot to the Falcon. The Falcon, in turn, was unhappy to be the beneficiary of what he perceived to be tokenism, and decided to resign from the team, after which Wonder Man rejoined. The true origins of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were revealed in a three-part story that ran in issues #185-187 (July-Sept. 1979). After this adventure, the Scarlet Witch took a leave of absence and Ms. Marvel officially joined the team as her replacement.

1980s

The first major development was the breakdown of Henry Pym, with his frequent changes of costume and name being symptomatic of an identity problem and an inferiority complex. After he abused his wife, failed to win back the confidence of the Avengers with a ruse and was duped by the villain Egghead, Pym was jailed. Pym would later outwit Egghead and defeated the latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil single-handedly, and proved his innocence. Pym reconciled with the Wasp, but they decided to remain apart. Pym retired from super-heroics, but returned years later.

This was followed by several major storylines, such as "Ultimate Vision" in which the Vision took over the world's computer systems in a misguided attempt to create world peace; the formation of the West Coast Avengers; and "Avengers Under Siege" which involved the second Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil taking over the mansion and severely injuring Jarvis and Hercules. "Assault on Olympus" featured Hercules' father, Zeus, blaming the Avengers for his son's injuries and brought them to Olympus for trial, and the "Heavy Metal" arc saw the Super Adaptoid organized several robotic villains for an assault on the team. New members during the 1980s included Tigra; the She-Hulk; an African American Captain Marvel named Monica Rambeau; Starfox; Hawkeye's wife, Mockingbird; and Namor, while Henry Pym emerged from retirement to join the West Coast Avengers. Spider-Man was again offered membership, but failed to gain admission due to security concerns by the Avengers' government liaison.

The villain Nebula falsely claimed to be the granddaughter of Thanos. The team relocated for a period to a floating island off the coast of New York called Hydrobase. The Avengers moved their base of operations to Hydrobase after Avengers Mansion was severely damaged in the "Under Siege". Hydrobase was later sunk during the Acts of Vengeance crossover.

The Avengers and West Coast Avengers changed to allow members to be active when available and reserved when not available and merged the two separate Avengers teams into one team with two bases. The Vision had his personally fundamentally altered, along with the discovery that the children of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision were actually illusions. The loss of the Scarlet Witch's children and the Vision, who was disassembled by government agents in retaliation for the Ultimate Vision storyline, drove her insane, although she eventually recovered and rejoined the team. This story revealed that the Scarlet Witch's powers included wide-range reality manipulation and she was what the time-traveling Immortus refers to as a "nexus being" setting the stage for 2004's eventual Chaos and Avengers Disassembled storylines. This played out in the Darker than Scarlet storyline which ran in Avengers West Coast from issues #51–62 (Nov. 1989–Sept. 1990). The Avengers titles in late 1989 were involved in the major crossover event "Acts of Vengeance" where Loki assembled many of Marvel's arch-villains, his inner circle consisted of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Mandarin, Wizard, and Red Skull, in a plot to destroy the team. Loki orchestrated a mass breakout of villains from prison facility, the Vault, as part of his "Acts of Vengeance" scheme, but he ultimately failed in his goal to destroy the Avengers.

1990s

The U.S. government revoked the Avengers' New York State charter in a treaty with the Soviet Union. The Avengers then received a charter from the United Nations and the Avengers split into two teams with a substitute reserve team backing up the main teams.

At this point ongoing story lines and character development focused on the Black Knight, Sersi, Crystal, Hercules, the Vision, and the Black Widow. Their primary antagonists in this run were the mysterious Proctor and his team of other-dimensional Avengers known as the Gatherers. During this period, the Avengers found themselves facing increasingly murderous enemies and were forced to question their rule against killing.

This culminated in "Operation: Galactic Storm", a 19-part storyline that ran through all Avengers-related titles and showcased a conflict between the Kree and the Shi'ar Empire. The team split when Iron Man and several dissidents executed the Supreme Intelligence against the wishes of Captain America. After a vote disbanded the West Coast Avengers, Iron Man formed a proactive and aggressive team called Force Works. During the team's first mission, Wonder Man was killed again, though his atoms were temporarily scattered. Force Works later disbanded after it was revealed that Iron Man became a murderer via the manipulations of the villain Kang.

During the Heroes Reborn event, many of the Avengers together with the Fantastic Four and others, died trying to stop the psychic entity Onslaught, although it was revealed that Franklin Richards preserved those heroes in a pocket universe. Believing the main team to be gone, the Black Widow disbanded the Avengers, and only butler Edwin Jarvis remained to tend to the Mansion.

The previous continuity of the Marvel Universe was set aside as the heroes were "reborn" in the pocket universe, while The "Heroes Reborn" line ended.

The limited series Avengers Forever was a time travel story that explored the history of the Avengers and resolved many outstanding questions. New members during this run included the revived Wonder Man, Justice, Firestar, Silverclaw, and Triathlon. The Avengers fought many of their traditional villains such as the Grim Reaper, Ultron, Count Nefaria, and Kang the Conqueror.

2000s

The Avengers were granted international authority by the United Nations. Members joining during that period included Jack of Hearts and the second Ant-Man. A new Captain Britain was added to the team. The "Avengers Disassembled" storyline followed. Titled Chaos, the story featured the deaths of some members and a loss of credibility for the team. The culprit is revealed to be the Scarlet Witch, who had gone insane after agonizing over the memory of her lost children and who subsequently lost control of her reality-altering powers. With the team in disarray and Avengers Mansion ruined, the surviving members agreed to disband.

A new Avengers team formed, in the series New Avengers, composed of Iron Man, Captain America, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ronin, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and the Sentry. This was soon followed by the House of M event.

In the company-wide "Civil War" story arc, Marvel superheroes were split over compliance with the U.S. government's new Superhuman Registration Act, which required all superpowered persons to register their true identities with the federal government and become agents of same. The New Avengers disbanded, with a rebel underground starring in a series retaining The New Avengers in its trademarked cover logo and New Avengers in its copyright indicia. Luke Cage led this team, consisting of himself, Echo, Ronin, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Iron Fist, and Doctor Strange. During the long-term Secret Invasion by the shape-shifting alien race the Skrulls, Spider-Woman had been abducted and replaced by the Skrull queen Veranke. After the Skrulls' defeat, Spider-Woman was rescued along with other abducted and replaced heroes. During the company-wide story arc "Dark Reign", Echo and Iron Fist left the team and the Avengers gained Ms. Marvel, Bucky Barnes as a fill-in Captain America, and Mockingbird.

Iron Man, in the series The Mighty Avengers, formed a team under the aegis of the government's Fifty State Initiative program, and took up residency in New York City, joined by Ares, the Black Widow, the Sentry, the Wasp, Wonder Man, and leader Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel. After the events of the Secret Invasion story arc, Norman Osborn assumed control of the formerly S.H.I.E.L.D.-sponsored Avengers, now under the auspices of his own agency, H.A.M.M.E.R. All but Ares and the Sentry left this team — the Wasp appeared to have died — and the team migrated to the series Dark Avengers. Osborn recruited Marvel Boy to pose as Captain Marvel and Daken to pose as his father, Wolverine, bringing Moonstone, Bullseye, and Venom from his previous Thunderbolts team to impersonate Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man, respectively.

In The Mighty Avengers, Pym, assumed the Wasp identity in tribute to his fallen ex-wife, led a new team of Avengers, and claimed the name for his team as he was the only founding Avenger on any of the three active Avengers rosters. His team operated under a multinational umbrella group, the Global Reaction Agency for Mysterious Paranormal Activity (GRAMPA). This team featured the roster of Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Stature, the Vision, Jocasta, U.S. Agent, Quicksilver, and Pym. Loki in disguise as the Scarlet Witch was a recurring character. Iron Man and the Hulk were briefly with them.

2010s

The next iteration of the Avengers roster consisted of Thor, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, and team leader Maria Hill. Steve Rogers, briefly eschewing his Captain America persona, grants these "New Avengers" recognition as an official team independent of Stark's more traditional Avengers. Bucky Barnes as Captain America joined the main Avengers, as did Iron Fist, Power Woman, and the Thing. Rogers was an occasional presence and Victoria Hand was added with his backing.

A second series, titled Secret Avengers, was released in May 2010, written by Ed Brubaker with Mike Deodato as the regular artist. The second volume of the New Avengers series was relaunched in June 2010, written by Bendis and drawn by Stuart Immonen. A fourth title, Avengers Academy, was launched in June 2010, replacing Avengers: The Initiative. Christos Gage served as writer, with Mike McKone as artist.

Following a meeting between Rogers and MI-13, Captain Britain accepted a position with the Avengers. Noh-Varr later did as well. Bruce Banner made arrangements with Rogers for the Red Hulk to join.

The "Shattered Heroes" storyline led to several changes in the main Avengers lineup, with Quake and Storm being recruited, and the Vision rejoining the team. Wolverine and Spider-Man leave the main team and become more involved with the New Avengers. During the events of the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Storm quits to side with her fellow mutants as a member of the X-Men. The Avengers dismiss Noh-Varr after he attempted to betray the team, though ultimately he did not. The conflict ends with both teams united but defeated by an unrepentant Cyclops. A new series, Uncanny Avengers, debuted in the flagship title of the Marvel NOW! initiative. The title is written by Rick Remender with art by John Cassaday, and the team contains members of both the Avengers and the X-Men. As well, a biweekly Avengers title was launched, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by different artists for each story arc. Hickman also began writing New Avengers.

During the AXIS storyline, when a now-evil Scarlet Witch invades Latveria, Doctor Doom forms his own team of Avengers consisting of 3D Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Stingray, Valkyrie, and U.S. Agent. Rogers later assembles Magneto, Doctor Doom, the Absorbing Man, Carnage, Deadpool, the Enchantress, the Hobgoblin, the fifth Jack O'Lantern, Loki, Mystique, and Sabretooth. During the Time Runs Out storyline, Sunspot created a team of the Avengers, consisting of himself, Black Widow, Cannonball, Manifold, Pod, Shang-Chi, Smasher, Spider-Woman, Validator, and the Children of the Sun. The "Multiversal Avengers" division of this team consists of Abyss, the Ex Nihili (including Ex Nihilo), Hyperion, Nightmask, Odinson, and Star Brand.

1950s Avengers

A short-lived team of superheroes in the 1950s called themselves the Avengers. It consisted of Marvel Boy, Venus, the 3-D Man, Gorilla-Man, M-11, Jimmy Woo, Namora, and Jann of the Jungle, and existed in an alternate timeline that was erased by the time-manipulating Immortus. Agents of Atlas, a version of the group, without 3-D Man and Jann existed in mainstream continuity, and eventually reformed in the present day.

Avengers 1959

The New Avengers vol. 2, #10 revealed another 1950s Avengers team, formed by Nick Fury to hunt the last remnants of the Third Reich and consisted of Fury himself, Dominic Fortune, Dum Dum Dugan, Namora, Silver Sable, Sabretooth, Kraven the Hunter, and Ulysses Bloodstone. A follow-up miniseries penned by Howard Chaykin showed this group assisted by Blonde Phantom, Eric Koenig and a brand new character British wizard and spy, Powell McTeague. That time they fought against a cult based on the Nazi party which employed several agents, including Baron Blood and Brain Drain.

Avengers Next

In the alternate future timeline known as MC2, the Avengers disbanded and Avengers Mansion was a museum. An emergency forced Edwin Jarvis to sound an alert, and a new generation of heroes formed a new team of Avengers. Most of the new Avengers were children of established Marvel superheroes.

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the Avengers are named the Ultimates, and were formed by General Nicholas Fury to protect America against superhuman threats. They first appeared in The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. After the events of The Ultimates 2, the team left S.H.I.E.L.D. employment to become independent and financed by Tony Stark.

A Black Ops team called the Avengers debuted sometime after the Ultimatum storyline. This version was a project headed up by Nick Fury and Tony Stark's brother Gregory Stark to bring Captain America back. Its known members consisted of War Machine, Hawkeye, the Black Widow II (Monica Chang), Spider (a Spider-Man clone created by Gregory Stark from the DNA of Spider-Man and Professor X), Tyrone Cash (who was the original Hulk before Bruce Banner), the Red Wasp, and Nerd Hulk (an intelligent clone of the Hulk who lacks the Hulk's rage). Additional members included Punisher (who joined the Avengers against a Ghost Rider manhunt) and the half vampire Blade (who joined the group to help against a vampire invasion).

Avengers Forever

One of the timelines seen in Avengers Forever is an alternate future where Martians have ravaged Earth and killed most of its heroes. An older version of Black Panther leads a team of Avengers consisting of Killraven, Living Lightning, Jocasta, a new Crimson Dynamo, and Thundra.

Runaways

In an alternate future depicted in Runaways, Gertrude Yorkes's future self traveled back in time. In that future, she was the leader of the Avengers under the name Heroine. That lineup of the Avengers featured an Iron Woman, Scorpion, the Fantastic Fourteen, and Captain Americas.

Marvel Zombies

The Avengers existed as a team prior to a zombie contagion's arrival in the original Marvel Zombies universe, and resembled their pre-disassembled roster. When several of their members were infected, they set about eating humanity and sent out a bogus "Avengers Assemble" call to draw super-humans to the Avengers Mansion, infected more heroes and thus spread the virus. The team fell apart and many of its members were killed as time passed.

A second team of zombie Avengers appeared in Marvel Zombies Return. That team was brought together to find food and kill any resistance (zombie or uninfected) and was led by Sentry. Also on the team were the zombies Moon Knight, Namor, Quasar, Quicksilver, Thundra, and Super-Skrull. They were joined by zombie Giant-Man of the original Zombiverse, who was trying to power a dimensional teleporter, but were all killed by Spider-Man's New Avengers. The team was composed of himself with Iron Man, Sandman, and the zombie Hulk and Wolverine.

House of M: Avengers

In the alternate reality created by the Scarlet Witch, Luke Cage formed a team of superpowered humans to fight for human rights.

Age of Apocalypse

A humanized version of the Avengers banded together during the Age of Apocalypse and were known as the Human High Council.

Avengers 2099

During the "Secret Wars" storyline in the Battleworld domain of 2099, the Avengers are a team of corporate superheroes sponsored by Alchemax. The group consists of Captain America (a Latina woman named Roberta Mendez), Black Widow (an African-American woman named Tania), Iron Man (a dwarf named Sonny Frisco), Hawkeye (a half-man, half-bird creature named Max), and Hercules.

In other media

Three animated series have been based on the team. The Avengers: United They Stand was loosely based on the West Coast Avengers and ran from 1999 to 2000. The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was based on the early adventures of the team and ran from 2010 to 2013. Avengers Assemble is based on a new version of the team and premiered on May 26, 2013.

Marvel Animation has made three Avengers films, Ultimate Avengers, Ultimate Avengers 2, and Next Avengers.

Marvel Studios productions include: The 2012 live-action film The Avengers, featuring Nick Fury recruiting Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye to form the Avengers to fight Loki and the Chitauri invasion of New York City. At the time, it set the record for the biggest opening debut in North America, with a weekend gross of $207.4 million. A second Avengers film titled Avengers: Age of Ultron was released on May 1, 2015. A third Avengers film titled Avengers: Infinity War will be released on May 4, 2018, and a fourth untitled Avengers film will be released on May 3, 2019.