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September 1963, enter—The Avengers.
“Earth’s mightiest superheroes” is the team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Avengers episode number one changed every comic book lover’s life.
Before you dive into this article with me, keep in mind that there is a lot to cover. I will do my best to get all of our favorites in this article and give you a good guide for everything you need to know about the Avengers to really feel like you have a grip on who is who and what’s going on.
Continue reading this article, and I’ll help you understand more about the craze for these awesome and exciting characters.
Avengers Origin Story
So, how did Earth’s Mightiest Heros get together anyway?
No, all the superpowered people didn’t gather together and decide they should have a group. It took a lot more work than that to get everyone together.
The Avengers got together because Loki manipulated Hulk into being a menace on Earth. Keep in mind, at this time, Thor was a doctor on Earth and didn’t want to give Loki the fight he wanted because his desire was to stay on Earth. That’s why Loki had to manipulate the Hulk into getting Thor’s attention.
Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Thor are first seen working together as the Avengers due to this Hulk threat, and Hulk actually becomes an Avenger once they realize that Loki is the true threat—not Hulk.
Keep in mind that the Avengers are more of a team-up for whenever something really bad happens, and they have to work together. Each member has their own thing going on as far as missions and what they need to get done.
Core Members of the Avengers
The Avengers lineup changes a lot due to the nature of the team-up. However, most fans would say that Iron Man is the leader of the Avengers. After all, he is the one that bankrolls the entire thing.
Even though Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, and Hulk were the first to team up, not long after, Captain America came off the ice and joined the Avengers.
In Avengers #16, the Avengers invited Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to come along for the ride. Her hex ability and his superhuman speed made them great additions to the team-up.
Hercules is the 10th Avenger and the last of the Avengers we’ll look at today. His first appearance with the Avengers is in Avengers #38, but it wasn’t until Avengers #45 when they offered for him to join their ranks officially—and he accepted.
Iron Man
Iron Man’s only “superpower” is his brain and big money. He’s billionaire and philanthropist Tony Stark.
Tony has all of his money through Stark Industries, a weapons manufacturer owned by his dad Howard Stark and his wife, Maria.
His brilliant mind is the only thing that can match the money he has, and when his parents died, he took over Stark Industries.
The first Iron Man suit was built in a cave, but the suits are really high quality now. Tony has built over fifty Iron Man models, and the primary weapon in every suit is the repulsor rays that use energy pulses to repel enemies.
Ant-Man
The Ant-Man in these avengers is not Scott Lang. This Ant-Man is the original—Hank Pym. He created Pym Particles, which cause all sorts of troubles throughout Marvel.
These Pym particles allow people to alter their size, which can be very helpful when you don’t want someone to notice you as you’re sneaking into their super villain hideout.
Wasp
The Avengers’ founding Wasp is Janet van Dyne who is Hank Pym’s wife. She is a fashion designer and socialite but later became the crimefighting partner of her husband, Hank. She was the one that actually picked the name “Earth Mightiest Heroes.”
Thor
Thor is the god of Thunder, son of Odin, and has his mystical hammer named Mjolnir. The Asgardian prince uses his hammer to protect his people and the people of Earth.
His adoptive brother, Loki, always causes problems and is a pain in his neck.
Hulk
The Hulk is Dr. Bruce Banner after his exposure to gamma radiation. When he’s angry, he turns into the big green guy and is pretty effective at stopping the bad guys with his smash.
Being the Hulk isn’t always a joy for Bruce, but he does the best with what he has.
Best Avengers Teamups
All Female A-Force
In 2015, Marvel put out an all-female lineup of Avengers. It was part of Marvel’s Secret Wars crossover storyline.
The members of this team are:
- Singularity
- She-hulk
- Captain Marvel
- Dazzler
- Medusa
- Nico Minoru
Mighty Avengers
The members of the Mighty Avengers only stayed together in 2013 and 2014, but they had some amazing members.
- Spectrum (Monica Rambeau)
- Power Man
- Spiderman (With Doctor Octopus in Peter Parker’s body)
- She-Hulk
- Ronin
Young Avengers
After the Avengers disassembled, Vision put together a team of young recruits. There are some fan favorites in this group.
- Miss America
- Kid Loki
- Kate Bishop (Hawkeye)
- Wiccan & Speed (Billy & Tommy Maximoff—reincarnated twins of Wanda and Vision)
All-New, All-Different Team
The All-New, All-Different Team is from 2015 and is a big difference from what many fans are used to. Jane Foster is Thor in this team, and Sam Wilson is Captain America. Another thing people went wild over was Miles Morales as Spiderman.
New Avengers
The New Avengers is another fan favorite since you get a team up with classics like Captain American and Thor, but you also have Wolverine and Spiderman.
Avengers’ Most Memorable Events
We probably all have our own favorite events, and if I miss one of your favorites, I’m sorry. However, I am going to put three of my favorites below, and you can feel free to leave your favorites in the comments as well.
Avengers Disassembled
This isn’t my favorite because it’s a happy moment. It’s one of my favorites because it really hits you in the feels.
In 2004, the series Avengers Disassembled came out. When we first get into it, the beginning is a little chaotic and confusing.
At the Avenger’s Mansion, the sensors go off to let everyone know something or someone is coming. It ends up being the reanimated body of Jack of Hearts. He’d died saving Ant-Man’s daughter’s life but this time he detonated and killed Ant-Man and exploded half of the mansion.
Right after that, Vision crashed the Quinjet into the Mansion and attacked the survivors with a small army of Ultron robots. She-Hulk ended up tearing Vision in two, however. During this rampage, She-Hulk sent Captain America, Captain Britain, and Wasp to the hospital.
On top of that, Hawkeye sacrificed himself to save his friends due to the threat of an invading Kree warship.
What a nightmare, right? The interesting part about this is what this was all caused because Scarlet Witch went crazy due to the loss of her children years earlier.
See also: Captain America vs Thanos
Avengers vs X-Men
This massive crossover event was created in 2012. Having two of the most popular superhero teams at war with each other is a whole other level of insanity.
Thor, Hulk, Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Cyclops, and more are involved in this event and that makes for a superfan’s dream.
So, why are all of your comic book superheroes fighting each other?
When Nova crashes on Earth, he warned about oncoming doom but then away into a coma he went.
The Avengers used clues to piece together that the Phoenix Force was coming to Earth to select a new hose. Most people thought it would be Hope Summers that would get the power.
The X-Men thought the same thing and they’d trained her and continued to train her to be able to handle the power. Cyclops thought Hope could reverse the damage to the mutant world with her new power. Hope thought she was already ready since she’d trained under her adoptive father, Cable, for years.
The Avengers thought they should take Hope off-planet to stop another Jean Grey event from happening. However, the X-Men want to keep Hope with them and that’s why they fought like crazy.
This series had fans on the edge of their seats with twists and turns.
The Korvac Saga
This is a rather sad story about Michael Korvac and Carina.
Michael Korvac, an evil cyborg, wants vengeance against the alien race Badoon that was responsible for turning him into a Cyborg.
The way he got his god-like powers was by taking power from the shop of Galactus that he happened upon. The alien energies did wonders for Michael and he restored his body.
He hatched a new plan. That new plan was to hide from cosmic powers and make small changes to reality. He wanted to end the control of Eternity.
The first thing that happened was former Avengers and the people close to them disappearing without a trace. One of those that vanished was Quicksilver.
The Guardians of the Galaxy ended up coming to the 20th century to put a stop to Korvac’s plan because they think he wants to kill Vance Astro as a baby so he can stop the forming of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Around this time, Michael met a woman named Carina at a fashion show. He made her his girlfriend.
The Avengers started to investigate these disappearances and got the former Avengers back with the team. Everyone who has ever been an Avenger is in search of their unknown enemy.
Finally, the Avengers sniff out clues and end up in Forest Hills at the house of a “normal” couple, Michael and Carina. The only way they got found out is that Starhawk couldn’t see him because Michael had erased all memory of him from Starhawk’s mind.
Michael ends up dead even after besting the Avengers because Carina doubted him. The Avengers knew Carina also had powers, so they went against her, but she ended up committing suicide with Thor’s hammer.
As it turns out, they weren’t evil, and Michael had brought everyone that was dead back to life before he died. The only way they learned that is because Moondragon can read minds, and she learned this information before Carina and Michael died.
FAQs
Question: Who Was the First Avenger?
Answer: Most people think that Iron Man was the first Avenger since he was the first to know about the Avengers initiative. However, not everyone agrees with that, and some people think Captain America is the first Avenger because he came before everyone else and because of the MCU’s Captain America – The First Avenger movie.
Question: Who is in Charge of the Avengers?
Answer: Most people would agree that Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, is the chief Avenger in charge.
Question: Are there Avengers in Every Universe?
Answer: No. Not every Earth has the Avengers. While it may be hard to imagine a universe without the Avengers, there are plenty of those universes out there in the multiverse.
Question: Who is the Best Avenger?
Answer: There is no best avenger since everyone has their favorites. However, Scarlet Witch is the most powerful Avenger, which is why she made such a mess in the House of M.
Question: Who Started the Avengers?
Answer: Out here in the real world, Stan Lee started the Avengers with artist Jack Kirby in 1963. It’s unlikely they knew what a hit they had on their hands when they put out episode #1 of the Avengers.
Conclusion – Wrapping Up the Avengers Universe Guide
Is your head spinning as if Black Widow kicked you in the noggin? I hope so because if it is, I did my job right. Of course, there are more details on each of these very well-developed characters and their super interesting stories, but this is the baseline that can help you really get into them.
Once you start digging, you’ll feel pretty impressed with the way the characters intertwine and keep you guessing
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