The Avengers are a fictional superhero team created by Marvel Comics that appear in comic books. Aside from comics, the Avengers appear in various forms of media such as in novels, television shows, movies, videogames and stage shows.
The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker by Otto Binder was published as a mass market paperback novel by Bantam Books (F3569) in June 1967. The cover illustration depicts Captain America, Goliath; Hawkeye; Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (the latter pair do not actually appear).
The team also feature in the Pocket Books line of Marvel-based paperback novels of the late 1970s. Jim Shooter's short story "This Evil Undying" (1979) - featuring the robot Ultron as the villain - appeared as part of an anthology entitled The Marvel Superheroes. The story was later adapted for the ongoing title.
The Man Who Stole Tomorrow (1979), a full-length novel by David Michelinie, describes the Avengers battle with Kang the Conqueror in the 40th century.
The Berkeley Boulevard imprint published several Avengers tie-ins, each a team-up with other superhero teams: with the X-Men against the Leader in Greg Cox's Gamma Quest trilogy (1999–2000) and with the Thunderbolts against Baron Zemo in Pierce Askegren's The Avengers and the Thunderbolts (1999).
Pocket Books published two tie-ins with the alternate universe team the Ultimates: Michael Jan Friedman's Tomorrow Men (2006) and Alex Irvine's Against All Enemies (2007).
Marvel Comics published Alisa Kwitney's New Avengers: Break-Out (2013) as a tie-in to the live-action Avengers film. Inspired by both the movie and the New Avengers comic books, it featured Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye and the Black Widow.
Marvel Comics published Dan Abnett's Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World (2015) as a tie-in to Avengers: Age of Ultron. The line-up in the book includes Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and the Vision.
Adaptations of Avengers stories appeared in the The Marvel Super Heroes (1966), primarily in the "Captain America" and "The Incredible Hulk" segments. The series ran in syndication five days a week, with "Captain America" featured on Monday's episode; "The Incredible Hulk" on Tuesday; "Iron Man" on Wednesday; "Thor" on Thursday, and the "Sub-Mariner" on Friday.
The team also made appearances in the 1981 Spider-Man series.
The Fantastic Four animated series featured non-speaking cameos by The Avengers. In the season two episode "To Battle the Living Planet" the Avengers assist the Fantastic Four in rescuing earthquake victims. The Avengers appear once more in "Doomsday" briefly fighting Doctor Doom. Aside from these, both Thor and the Hulk make guest appearances in episodes in speaking parts.
In the X-Men animated series, an alternate version of The Avengers appeared in the episode "One Man's Worth". In a timeline in which Charles Xavier was murdered before founding the X-Men, Captain America is the leader of The Avengers, a taskforce of superhuman mutant hunters fighting a war against the Mutant Resistance led by Magneto.
The Avengers: United They Stand was an animated series consisting of thirteen episodes. It originally aired from October 30, 1999 to February 26, 2000, and was produced by Avi Arad and distributed by 20th Century Fox Television. This series featured a team composed of Ant-Man (leader); the Wasp; Wonder Man; Tigra; Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch. The Falcon and the Vision were added to the roster in the opening episodes. Captain America and Iron Man only make one appearance while Thor only appears in the opening titles and would have appeared in the proposed season two.
The Marvel Animation division and the outside studio Film Roman produced an Avengers animated TV series, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which began broadcast in 2010. The show debuted on Disney XD in Fall 2010 starting with a 20 part micro-series. The series features a team based on the roster for the original Avengers, composed of Ant-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the Wasp, with Captain America, the Black Panther, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, the Vision, and Spider-Man later joining the ranks.
A group of heroes assembled in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures season finale, "The Makluan Invasion", appears to be a variation of the Avengers team. It consistes of Iron Man, War Machine, Rescue, Hawkeye, General Nick Fury, the Black Widow, the Hulk, and the Black Panther.
Marvel announced The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes would not be renewed for a third season, but cancelled for a new series Avengers Assemble. The roster consists of Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, the Black Widow, and the Falcon. During the show's second season, the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man joined the team. The same iteration of the team guest-starred in the two-part Season 3 premiere of Ultimate Spider-Man, where Spider-Man briefly joined the Avengers. The team will be also featured in the second season of Guardians of the Galaxy
A Japanese anime series, Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, began airing in Japan in Spring 2014. Produced by Toei Animation, the story revolves around a group of youths that can use special discs to summons the Avengers, who were sealed in the discs by Loki. The main cast consisted of Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, and the Wasp. Over the course of the series, other Avengers such as Hawkeye, the Black Widow, the Falcon, and the Black Panther also appear in guest-starring roles.
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Marvel Animation has produced two animated films based upon the Ultimate incarnations of the Avengers; Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2.
The children of the Avengers are featured in the animated film; Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. Aged versions of Tony Stark and the Vision appear as well.
The team appears in the anime film Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, with a line-up consisting of the Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, War Machine, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Captain Marvel.
The team appears in the animated movie Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight! In the film, the Avengers consist of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Captain Marvel and Reptil.
The Avengers are a common narrative plot thread in the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning as early as Iron Man wherein the "Avengers Initiative" was introduced.
Marvel Studios released the live-action film The Avengers on May 4, 2012. Joss Whedon wrote and directed the film. Cast team members include Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The film depicts the origin story of the team.
A sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, written and directed by Whedon, was released on May 1, 2015. The film features all the Avengers returning from the first film, and introduce new team members the Scarlet Witch, portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen, Quicksilver, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and the Vision, played by Paul Bettany. At the end of Age of Ultron, a new roster of Avengers is established which includes; Captain America, the Black Widow, the Scarlet Witch, the Falcon (portrayed by Anthony Mackie), the Vision, and War Machine (portrayed by Don Cheadle).
The new Avengers roster appears in Captain America: Civil War, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. In Civil War, the team is fractured into two opposing groups, one led by Captain America and the other by Iron Man. Captain America's group consists of himself, Hawkeye, the Falcon, the Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), while Iron Man's group consists of himself, War Machine, the Black Widow, Spider-Man (Tom Holland), the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and the Vision.
In October 2014, Avengers: Infinity War was announced, with Part 1 scheduled to be released on May 4, 2018 and Part 2 on May 3, 2019. Kevin Feige revealed to BuzzFeed in an interview that the third film will have a new line up. In March 2015, it was confirmed that the Russo brothers would direct both films. In July 2016, Marvel announced that the former first part would be known simply as Avengers: Infinity War, with the former second part untitled at that time.
Video and computer games
The Avengers are featured in the arcade and console game Captain America and the Avengers (1991); Avengers in Galactic Storm (1995); Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006), its sequel Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009), and Avengers: Battle for Earth (2012).
The team is also featured heavily in the social network game Marvel: Avengers Alliance (2012) and the mobile app game Avengers Initiative (2012).
A first person Avengers action game was planned by THQ Studio Australia to coincide with the release of the first live-action movie in 2012. The game would have featured Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor as the main characters, with Black Widow, Hawkeye, War Machine, and Ms. Marvel appearing as unlockable characters. The story, loosely based on Secret Invasion rather than the movie, was penned by veteran comic writer Brian Michael Bendis. Though a fair amount of progress was made on the game, it was ultimately cancelled after THQ Studio Australia was closed down. In late January 2017, Marvel announced a joint partnership with Square Enix for a multi-game project, starting with a game based off of the Avengers, with more info expected to be revealed in 2018.
The Avengers appear as the main characters in the live-action stage show Marvel Universe: LIVE!. The line-up in the show features Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, the Black Widow, the Falcon, and Captain Marvel, with Wolverine and Spider-Man assisting them in the crisis.
Manga and manhwa
In 2014, a one-shot Avengers manga was published in Monthly Corocoro Comic. The story centered around the Avengers trying to introduce themselves to the children of Japan, only to find the kids did not recognize the group of American heroes.
In 2014, Marvel launched a web manhwa for South Korean audiences titled Avengers: Electric Rain. Written and illustrated by Yeong-Hoon Goh, the series sees the Avengers teaming up with a new Korean heroine named White Fox.
On November 3, 2014, Marvel announced a special one-shot manga featuring a crossover between the Avengers and the cast of Attack on Titan. It featured the Avengers facing off against the Female Titan after the Titans attacked the Marvel Universe.
In July 2015, a one-shot manga prequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron ran in Weekly Shōnen Magazine, with art by Yūsaku Komiyama.
Also in 2015, Manga Box began publishing Avengers: Zombies Assemble, again by Yūsaku Komiyama. The series ran until July 2016.
In South Korea, Daewon C.I. publishes Avengers K, a manhwa series that retells classic Avengers stories.
